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( -.. ^.ATURAL RIGHTS: 



A PAMPHLET FOR THE PEOPLE. 



ORIGINALLY PUBLISHED IN 



BELFAST, IRELAND, 1835. 



WILLIAMSBURG, L. I. : 

PRINTED AND PUBLISHED BY THE AUTHOR. 
18 4 2. 



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PREFACE. 



The following Pamphlet was written and published by me 
about seven years ago — before I had, yet, thrown myself up- 
on the turbid current of public life. 

The views it contains were drawn from the fount of Nature 
— and it gives me pride, even at this distant period, that nei- 
ther the "loyal" doctrines of the Orangemen— nor the sham- 
patriotism of the "liberals" have polluted a single line of this 
humble production. It begins by exhibiting the true merits 
of the British Government — and it proceeds to show the actu- 
al position of political affairs in the British Islands. 

This was, indeed, necessary, because at the time 
I speak of the mass of the Irish people knew almost 
nothing of the system that oppressed them. Religious 
animosities had taken possession of the whole people. The 
*'loyal Orangeman" was rackrented to the point of starvation 
yet he cried "to H — with the Pope' and toasted 'the glo- 
rious and immortal memorj^' with as much zeal as if he were 
not himself as abject a serf as his Catholic fellow countryman. 
On the other hand the Catholic would shout praise and glory 
to any lord or Duke — no matter how tyrannical — who called 
himsef a 'liberal', and subscribed £10 towards building a Cha- 
pel out of the ten thousand which his rapacity wrung annually 
from the famished tillers of the soil. I therefore began with 
delineating the actual nature of the Government, and the ac- 
tual state of parties — an arrangement that will, 1 think, be 
found useful in the present edition. 

But the main object of the pamphleft is to discuss, and de- 
fine the nature, and true extent, of land Ownership, This is a 
subject which had received no attention in the British islands 
up to the publication of this Tract. The unlimited right of 
a few hundred individuals to appropriate the entire soil to them^f 
selves had never been disputed. Often have I heard the Far- 
mer declare that he would not pay Tithe because he did not 
receive any value from the Parson, but he did not grudge to pay 
the landlord, because he "gave him value for his money". 

Man spoke upon the subject precisely as if "Landlords" had 



created the soil — had maufact'r'd the seasons by which that soil 
is periodically fertilized— and then let it out at a yearly hire to the 
People — thus "giving them value for their money'' 

I vi^as, of course imbued with the common opinion— but 
though 1 firmly believed that the landlord "had a right to his 
estate," I believed as firmly that it was not the design of God to 
leave men so poor and helpless that they could never get above 
the drowning point of misery. Something was wrong some- 
where; I tried to find out where the wrong lay, and the follow- 
ing Tract was the result of my investigations 

Since it was originally published, though brief the time, I 
have gleaned up some experience. Heft 'the retirement of a 
remote village in Ireland, and threw myself on public life in the 
^metropolis of the world'. I did so with the single, and it may 
seem romantic, object of vindicating the principles contained ia 
my little publication. 

During a singularly eventful sojourn in England I lived in 
the conflict of opinion, and I made my living by it. From the 
Imperial Legislator, down to the mendicant scavenger, who 
sweeps a "crossing" for the privilege of asking an alms, I have 
conversed with them all upon my chosen topic. I have carri- 
ed the same subject into all the varieties of life in the provin- 
ces. I have debated it with hundreds of men — I might perhaps 
say thousands — and I have never met any argument to affect 
the tiuth and justice of the principles and opinions here laid down. 

With the exception of what is not a principle but a means. I 
allude to Moral force in effecting popular Reforms. My expe- 
rience has changed the opinion expressed on that subject. — 
Moral power in its abstract parity will do little in forcing justice 
from unjust governments, like that of Great Britain. Indeed 
Moral Power, in any country, is nothing the worse of a little 
Physical force to look on and see fair play. If it vvere not for 
our own Physical Power looking on, and backing our moral 
right, ten to one the British Government would have mistaken 
New York for Canton, and given to this Republican the atten- 
tion that she is now paying the Celestial Empire. 
^ As for the style and arrangement, there it is with all its me- 
rits and defects upon its head. Without correction or revision, 
justasitwas written by an inexperienced hand, amid wilds a 
hundred miles distant from any Office that could be found to 
print it. It is not all my maturer judgment might desire— far 
from it: but, taken all in all, I am not ashamed to link my 
name with it at this distant day, and in this new country. 

Thomas A. Devyr. 



OUR NATURAL RIGHTS &c. 



CHAPTER I. 

The British Government. 

"Whose freedom is by sufferance, and at will 
Of a superior, he is never free."— Cowper. 

The following brief Treatise is addressed chiefly to my bro- 
thers of industry and toil ; and, as 1 am aware that many of 
them do not rightly" understand what sort of hotch-potch our 
social system is, farther than to know it bad by its effects, 1 shall 
commence by laying down an outline of its form ; and first, of 
the Constifution of our Government— King, House of Lords, 
and House of Commons. 

The Kingly Office is hereditary. The principal powers ves- 
ted in the Crown are these: — Choice of the Ministry, which con 
ducts the government — prerogative of convening, proroguing, 
and dissolving the House of Commons — of creating new Mem- 
bers of the House of Peers — and any measure, though passed 
by both Houses of Parliament, cannot become law without ha- 
ving received the Royal assent. 

The House of Lords is principally composed of the heredita- 
ry nobility — the King seldom exercising the power of creating 
ne-w Peers. It is the prerogative of this House to alter any 
measure which may have been passed by the House of Com- 
mons; (but so altered, it cannot become law, without afterward* 
receiving the sanction of the Commons) or to finally reject it, by 
which it is quashed for the Session then being, if not brought 
forward in an altered shape. This House makes our Consti- 
tution a negative oligarchy; but as it opposes itself to every 
kind of national improvement, it is likely to be new model- 
led, or entirely borne down, by the reforming spirit of the age. 

The House of Commons is elective by registered voters — of 
these, nine-tenths are to be found in the middle and, what is 
termed, the lower classes ofsociety ; hence, we find — as its very 
name implies— that this House ought to belong to the common 
people ; but the Aristocracy have long usurped all power and au^- 
thority there. — This they formerly effected chiefly through 



means of the" Rotten Boroughs;" and now, that an indignant 
people have prostrated those strongholds of the robber, they 
quietly effect the same purpose by the absolute ownership of land, 
■which gives to the landlord the power of driving to poverty 
and destitution any tenant who might dare to vote contrary to 
his directions. Effectually is this ruffian power exerted, and it 
is infinitely worse in its effects than the " Rotten Borough" 
system — that laid no sin to the soul oi the unfortunate peasant 
— but this violates his conscience, takes from him his honesty, 
and leaves him" poor indeed." The House of Commons is 
composed of 105 Irish, 53 Scotch, and 500 English Represen- 
tatives, in all 658 Members. To it belongs the power of rai- 
sing the taxes, and voting the amount to its several uses. In 
it most laws are formed, subject, as has been said, to revision 
or rejection by the House of Lords. 

I have observed that the House of Commons, of right, be- 
longs to the common people. If any man deny this, it is plain 
that that man would allow the people no power at all in the state. 
The King, the principal Gentleman in the realm, will, naturally 
be favorable to his brothers of the Aristocracy ; and his power 
is very considerable. The House of Lords will, of course have 
a tender feeling for themselves, and their power is absolute, inas- 
much as no law can be enacted without their sanction. And if 
the people have not a preponderance in the House of Commo ns, 
then, they have no /tower at all in the State, but are completely 
at the mercy of the gentlefolks, and must obey whatever laws 
these same gentlefolks choose to enact. Whether the people 
have, or have not, that preponderance remains to be examined. 

A very brief examination will lead us to the truth of this mat- 
ter. The House of Commons is divided into three parHes — 
Tories, Whigs, and Radicals. The Tories are for continuing 
tithes, taxes, and every species of peculation that tends to ag- 
grandize the rich and beggar the poor. This class holds the 
opinion (exemplified in the speech of Sir Robert Peel,on the 
vote by Ballot — June, 1835) that owe man, possessing fifty thou- 
sand pounds is equal io five hundred men, who may be possessed 
of only one hundred pounds each. Money ^ the vile creation of 
man, according to the 7'ories, possesses all discrimination, and 
ought to possess supreme power in guidmg the affairs of the 
State. And man, the noblest, work of the Almighty, ought, ac- 
cording to the same authority to possess no power at all. By 
the way. Sir Robert Peel is one of the most moderate, as he is, 
unquestionably, the most talented oftheTories. 

The Whigs profess to be the friends and servants of thepeo- 



pie — and certainly, they are better rulers than the Tories — but 
still they are Aristocrats, and as such, their feelings and inte- 
rests are at variance with the rights of the people. We see a 
remarkable instanc* of this in their opposition, as a Govern- 
ment, to the "Vote by Ballot" — which by screening the people 
from the tyranny of their landlords, would give them the free 
exercise of the elective franchise. Ind3ed, if we take a general 
and dispassionate view of the conduct of the Whigs, we cannot 
but perceive that there is not so much difference between them 
and the Tories as is generally supposed to be. The Tories bes- 
towed useless places, and unmerited pensions, on their friends, 
at the cost of the public. The Whigs refuse to do the peo- 
ple justice by abolishing those places and pensions. Instead of 
collecting forty eight, millions, sterling, anually, off the peo- 
ple as would the Tories, the Whigs, by great economy, might 
contrive to do with forty-seven and a half millions. The To- 
nes would have withheld Catholic Emancipation. The Whigs 
strained every nerve to achieve that measure of justice ; but 
?narkj they were not losing by the change, but, on the contrary, 
strengthening their party in the State. The Tories would allow 
the people no power at all in the House of Commons — the W higs 
would allow them a small modicum of power, important only 
when assisting themselves to beat their old foes, the Tories — 
but totally incapable of effecting any good against the wishes 
of the master Whigs If any man think the Whigs the staunch 
friends of the people, that they would fain be considered, let 
him scrutinize their conduct, s-nd then hold his opinion if he can. 
The Radicals, the third party in the State, are chiefly delega- 
ted by the people ; but so few are they, in comparison to the 
Whigs or Tories, that they rarely venture to push an}'- ques- 
tion that is not approved of by the master Whigs; indeed, their 
doing so serves no purpose, save to show their own weakness, 
and the strength of the Aristocracy. Perhaps the number of 
out-and-out Radicals that represent the People in the House of 
Commons is not above fifty or sixty — certainly, not one hun- 
pred — hence, it is evident, that the people have no effectual 
check over their own House, and, consequently, are the slaves 
of a plundering and vile Oligarchy. 



CHAPTER II. 

*« Truths that you will not read in the Gazettes, 
But which 'tis time to teach the hireling tribe, 
That latten on their country's gore and debts." 

Byron 

Having seen that the Aristocracy are possessed of all power in 
making the laws, we come to enquire how that power is used. 

First — By it they have confirmed to themselves the absolute 
ownerahip of all land, and water too, as far as they can throw 
their chain about it; they collect the produce of the entire, 
leaving to the unfortunate occupier what is scarcely sufficient 
of coarse food and wretched raiment to keep him alive to work 
for the next yearly supply. 

And for what purpose is this wealth collected ? For what 
great end is the virtuous and industrious peasant banded over 
to degradation and distress.? That the landlord may be ena- 
bled to prosecute high researches and ennobling discoveries ? 
That he may improve science and civilize the human ra^e ? 
No ! but that he may be enabled to fling hundreds on the har- 
lot's lap, and thousands on the gamester's table. That he may 
support a troop of worthless, soulless dependents — a crowd of 
vagabond singers and dancers, who pander to his idiot pleasures, 
and feed on him as vermin on a putrid carcass, that this wealth 
may filter from him, through all the ramifications of a city, and 
support its every vice and crime. These are the vile objects, to 
attain which he hands the poor peasant over to rags and hunger f 
Whether he has a right to do so, shall be examined hereafter 

As the same precious brood of landlords possess (as has been 
seen) all power in the government of the country, it is no way 
strange that the same reckless and plundering spirit pervades 
that department Though six millions* a year, would (ac- 
cordnig to Mr. Hume, the best authority in the empire,) sup- 
port a good and efficient government, yet there are forty-eight 
millions, annually, collected off the people of these realms. — 
This is raised by a duty on almost every article in use amongst 
us. Were it not for the duties, we would have 

Tobaco, for one halfpenny per ounce, or growing in our fields, 

* And this is an estimate for upholding order in our present monstrous 
and absurd social system. In a rational state of society, one million 
would be more than sufficient. 



affording employment to thousands of our starving population ; 

Tea, for a penny per ounce ; Sugar three pence a pound ; 

Spirits and Beer, for half their preseut value ; 
Window-glass, for perhaps a fourth of what it now costs ; 
Superior Norway Timber, for a far less price than we now 
pay for indifferent Canadian; Paper and books for one half, and 
newspapers for one fourth of the money which they now cost us 

Wine we could have for two or three shillings a gallon in- 
stead of twenty shillings, as we now pay.* 

The latter article is not, I admit, essential to the comfort of 
the community at large, but, in the decline of life, a moderate 
quantity would, according to the best physicians, both prolong 
existence, and contribute to bestow health and cheerfulness to 
the last ; and yet, the policy of our rulers forbids the poor man 
ever to taste of it, though bending beneath age and infirmity, 
and tottering on the brink of the grave. 

The above is barely sufficient to give an idea of our taxation, 
and how it deprives the vast majority of the community of ma- 
ny of the comforts of life, by so raising their prices as to put 
them beyond the reach of the people. As it is ^, forced and zm- 
natural system, so it is difficult and expensive in the operation. 
Bear witness ye shoal of Coast-guaids and Revenue cruisers, 
ye swarm of land officials, from the Commissioner of Stamps to 
the still-hunting Policeman. These all, all must be supported; 
consuming much and producing nothing, in order to keep the 
present enslaving system in operation — a system which makes 
property of the industry and persons of the people. If there ex- 
isted no other means of supporting a Government for the regu- 
lation of society, man would certainly have a right to give up 
a portion of hi<5 labor for that purpose. But there do exist 
other and legitimate means — the means by which all Govern- 
ments were originally supported. An inconsiderable levy off 
the land which God has bestowed on us, would support a vi- 
gilant and efficient Government. And as the proprietors, or, 
rather, chiefs (fori deny that they are, or can be, proprietors) 
of estates, would be the taxpayers, the collection would be 
cheap and simple. 

Let us now take a view of the uses to which this yearly for 
ty-eight millions are applied In the first place, about twenty- 
eifijht millions sterling go to pay the interest of what is deno- 
minted the "National Debt." This debt, amounting to the 
astounding sum of nine hundred millions, sterling, was contrac- 

* Sterling. 



10 

ted by our Government, atdifferenf periods, during the last 150 
years, for the purposes of war ! Was there an enemy land- 
ing on our shores to destroy us ? — No such thing; The French 
people wished to have a particular form of Government — our 
Lords and Gentlemen would not allow them to enjoy that par- 
ticular form ; so they purchased hundreds of thousands of fel- 
low-beings, and sent them over to France to butcher and be 
butchered.* Our Lords and Gentlemen likewise hired all the 
foreign troops they could procure to help to butcher the French. 
To do all this they required money, so they borrowed of such 
as had it to lend ; and for every ^£50 or dESO which they bor- 
rowed, they, by a species oi forgery, gave the promissory note of 
the people for iSlOO, without the consent, or even the know- 
ledge, of the great bodj^ of the people. Hitherto, they have 
compelled us to make good this /or^etZ compact — whether they 
have a right to do so, common sense will decide — but this I 
will venture to say, that if we had money for throwing away, 
we would not apply a single penny of it to such purposes of un- 
necessary war and fiendish slaughter. Look at the first Ame- 
rican War. In a consultation of our Lords and Gentlemen, they 
determined to charge the Americans a certain sum for the pri- 
vilege for drinking tea. The Americans thought themselves at 
liberty to drink tea when they pleased, without paying our 
Lords and Gentlemen for their permission ; whereupon our 
Lords and Gentlemen wax very wroth, and send thousands of 
British soldiers over with a commission to slay the Americans. 
(And here I must remark for the edification of my simple 
readers, that it is no sin to butcher any number of our fel- 
low beings provided our lords and gents give you permission 
to do so, ) But the brave Americans grappled with them 
on the shore, and sustained the death-struggle with invinci- 
ble resolution and vigor, until the hireling phalanx, exhausted 
sunk before the virtuous and firm ranks of independence. — 
This was the first ray of freedom that shot across our political 
horizon for ages. The dark tempests of ambition, and the 
meteor-lights of glory, had long involved and bewildered de- 
generate man, and led him back almost to barbarism, until this 
beam of the West arose to guide him on the way to truth 
and happiness. And from whom did it emanate? From the 
learned divine, or the prof )und philosopher ^ No — but from 



* This war lasted, vslth little intermision, for twenty-two years — cost 
England seven hundred and fifty millions, sterling— and sacraficed two 
millions of human beings, of the veiy flower of Europe, 



11 

the nature-taitght peasant of Ireland and the North of Scot" 
land* 

In this unnatural struggle, many a father met the death-blow 
from the hand of his son — many a brother seared his soul with 
the crime of Cain. A work of this kind should not be taken np 
"with any detail of this scene of blood — but I cannot forbear 
pausing to sigh over the fate of that youthful and gallant band 
— the Maryland regiment (composed of the finest young men 
in that province — self-devoted volunteers,) ■who were almost 
to a man cut off,, in opposing the last landing of the British 
troops, near New York. | 1 repeat, therefore, that if the Chris- 
tian people of these countries had gold for throwing into the o- 
cean, and human blood as cheap and plentiful as the mountain 
stream, they would spill neither the one nor the other on such 
unjustifiable slaughter. And that same people, apathetic or 
misled though they may now be on the subject, will yet rouse 
themselves and judge whether they have a right to pay what 
others borrowed for such unchristian and inhuman purposes.- — 
But it may be said, that every penny of this debt was borrow- 
ed by consent of Parliament, and that the people con- 
sented to it through their Representaives. Let me ask 
— Who had the Representatives? — The people had none. 
They have very few even yet. But this profligate debt was 
contracted under the '^ Rotten Borough" system, when the 
House of Commons was entirely composed of IheNobiJity and 
their nominees. It is, therefore indisputably a debt of the ar- 
istocracy ; and I think it will puzzle them and all their hire- 
ling writers to prove that the people have a right to pay it. 
But it is nonsense to talk of payment, as it has been computed, 
that all the merchandize, chattels, gold, silver, and every inch 
of land in the empire, would not be sufficient to pay off this 
monstrous debt. If the people fairly and honestly owed the 
money, they would have to do what a private individual would 

* A, D. 1773. — About this time, the common people of Ireland and the 
North of Scotland were so cruelly harassed by their unfeeling landlords, 
who raised the rent of their land upon them, without considering- whether 
they could pay it, ttat they emigrated to America in great numbers; and 
of these, it is said, was principally composed that army which first began 
the war in that part of the world conducted it with such spirit and perseve- 
rance, and did not conclude it, until they had rendered themselves and 
their new adopted country independent of their old masters. Oppressed 
subjects, when driven to extremity, become the most dangerous foes — 
they are actuated by a spirit of revenge against their tyrants, whichcannot 
be supposed to influence the natives of a foreign country. — Goldsmith's 
England. — School Edition. [Truly here is a lesson for our absolute land- 
lords.] f During this war 200,000 men were slain. 



12 

do in the like circumstances, namely — turn bankr\]pt,an<3 set- 
tle it in that "way. But, if the people did not contract, and, 
consequently, do not owe a penny of it, the case is altered com- 
pletely, and the path they have to pursue is plain and obvious 

It is all nonsense to talk of the inviolability of the national 
faith, and the ruin a breach of it would bring on thousands 
Avho have vested their fortunes in the government debt. To 
such cant) I reply, that the national faith cannot bebroken, as it 
never was pledged ; and, in common dealing, if any man pur- 
chase a bad article, he must bear the loss it brings ; or, if a 
forged bank note be foisted on him, can he compel the bank 
to give him payment of it ? 1 think it is both la"yv and common 
sense, that he must pocket the loss, or follovr the forger. 

But it will be by no means so bad with the fund-holders — 
agitation of the question will, like the rumor of war, tend to 
lower the price of stock, by slow degrees ; and, when it is re- 
duced to a certain level, a reformed Legislature may, in some 
sort, indemnify the then holders, by a mulct on our Dukes and 
Lords, regulated in proportion to the number of votes exerci- 
sed by each, in contracting this infamous debt. In the interim, 
any individual fund-holder, who so wishes, may get rid of the 
falling concern, at an inconsiderable loss, and those who bat- 
like cling to the rotten fabric, will richly deserve to get a 
shock in its ruin. 



CHAPTER III. 



'Tis avarice all — ambition is no more ; 

See all our nobles begging to be slaves — 

See all our fools aspiring to be knaves. — Pope. 

Let us now examine what sort of value we receive for the re- 
maining twenty millions, sterling, which are collected ofFus, an- 
nually. I have already glanced at the " swarms'''^ and the 
^^shoaW'* that are employed in guarding and collecting the 
duties. The expense of supporting these is enormous. A 
large sum is next required for the support of an army and na- 
vy. These, in the present state of society, when a thirst of 
slaughter and plunder — to which we contribute our full share 
— is a glorious vice, may be indispensible to our existence and 
safety as a nation ; but, let good and rational governments 
once become general, and an army and navy would not be worth 
two and sixpence a year to this or any other state, as the un- 
christian and inhuman trade of war would sink into total dis- 



13 

Qse, and its name only go down to posterity, steeped in the con- 
tempt and disgust of all succeeding ages. 

Another very large sum goes to support the government of- 
fices : there are the Premiership, the Chancellorship, the Se- 
cretaryships, and a score or two of other offices, which cost the 
country from five tt) twenty thousand a year each. With all 
due respect foi the abilities and integrity which the Right Ho- 
norables bring into these offices, I may venture to remark, that 
these same commodities cost the country a little too dear. 
The whole wealth of Cincinnatus was a farm of seven acres, 
which he tilled with his own hands; yet at three different 
periods, he held the office of Dictator to the Roman Common- 
wealth, — an office of ab.^'olute and unlimited power overall 
law. — Having, by his wisdom and virtue, saved his country 
from impending luin, he laid down his authority, and retired 
to his little farm, without any reward, save the approval of his 
own heart, and the blessings of his country. Lord Byron, in 
addressing Wellington, has said — 

The high Roman fashion, too, of Cincinnatus, 
With modern history has small connexion. 
It has indeed small connexion with the history of such moderns 
as Wellington, and his Whig and Tory caste; but man is en- 
dowed with the same inherent nature now, that he possessed 
in those early and virtuous times ; and shall we allow those 
to trample over us who continue, by their influence and exam- 
ple, to degrade and pervert that noble nature. 

There are also innumerable offices under government, at 
salaries of iE500 to £5,000 a year. Many of these are sine- 
cures, — that is to say, there is no duty to be performed in 
them ; and the persons filling these offices receive their sala- 
ries for doing nothing. There are other offices which require 
the performance of service. These, you may think, are con- 
ducted on straightforward and honest principles. No such 
thing. Lords, or the relatives, or hangers-on of lords, hold 
these offices, at £500 to £5,000 a-year, clap in deputies at 
£100 to£500, to do the duty, and honorobly pocket the remain- 
der. Can there be more downright robbery than this ? Yes : 
the openest, the most barefaced robbery remains to be mention- 
ed in the state pensions. You, my friends, do not, perhaps 
know what state pensioners are. I'll tell you — thej'^ are precious 
gentlemen and ladies too, on whom our rulers have thought 
proper to bestow yearly incomes, out of the public purse. — 
These folks have nothing to do but order their servants, call 
their coaches, wear silks and jewels, eat the choicest delicacies, 



14 

and get drunk with select wines — every quarter-day brings 
a sheaf of bank notes, wrung out of the hard earnings of the 
people, to support their idleness and luxury. Is not this shame 
ft>l ? — Is it not sinful ? Can the people who must labor for 
the support of these idle vagabonds call themselves free ? — 
No, no : the placemen, the pensioners, and the holders of the 
government debt, have dared to assume an actual property 
in our persons, and if permitted, their worthless effeminate 
descendants will assume the same property in our unborn off- 
spring. Away, then, with the name of freedom ! — To us it 
is all a delusion — we are slaves, and let us not, by assuming 
the name of freemen, stamp ourselves idiots, too. 



CHAPTER IV. 



Who can tread the memorable fields 
Where freedom's battle has been lost or won 
Nor feel thy mighty spirit, Independence, 
Great in his bosom. — .Hethsri]vgton. 

Having given a slight outline of the principles of our govern- 
ment, I proceed to take a retrospective view of the events 
which led to the present state of affairs in these countries, ex- 
amine the great political questions of the day, and discuss how 
far they will or can remove the evils of society. 

The people of these realms seem to have evinced no rationr 
al idea of freedom previous to the year 1782 ; and probably 
the American struggle servedtogive ihem a knowledge of its 
nature and importance- Before that period their disputes 
were principally caused by the restless ambition of their chiefs, 
or tended merely to a change of masters ; but, at that memo- 
rable era the Irish Volunteers took up arms to protect their 
country from foreign invasion. These gallant bands soon turned 
their attention to the deplorable state of slavery to which that 
country was reduced by the despotism of England. At this 
time, and up to the Legislative Union, in 1800, the nobility of 
Ireland were not the unfeeling aliens which they have since 
become ; they then had a country, and their pride was hurt at 
her humiliation ; — nay, more, they lived among their people^ 
and had not learned to entirely disregard the voice of nature 
and humanity ; but the Union 

"Has made them what we well may hate!" 

At this period (1782) there was a Parliament in Dublin, 



15 

oir ratlier the mockery of a Parliament, as it might spend six 
weeks in framing a law, and after the whole trouble, an En- 
glish Secretary could, with one dash of his pen, make a jest of 
the whole affair. The Volunteers, brandishing their drawn 
swords, protested against this monstrous and contemptuous 
stretch of power, and they succeeded in putting it down. Other 
grievances, in which their leaders partook, were fearlessly de- 
nounced by the Volunteers, and immediately redressed by Go- 
vernment ; but the principal grievances, and in which their 
leaders (men of property) did not partake, namely rents, tithes, 
and their attendant evils, were kept smouldering in the public 
mind, until they broke into open iiame, in the rebellion of 1798. 
That the ultimate intentions of the United Irishmen were to 
shake off English connexion, and establish a Republic, as ia 
America, admits of no doubt ; but rents and tithes were the 
original causes of their combination; indeed, one of their mct- 
tos was, ^' Half rent and no tithed The result of that struggle 
is fresh in the memory of Irishmen, in which one hundred 
thousand of their brothers fell ; of these not a third perished 
in the field — the platoon fire, the halter, and the torture did the 
rest. There is a sickening sympathy which we feel at behol- 
ding the violent and premature death even of a guilty person — > 
the reflection, that he was hardened in crime, thrtt he deliberate- 
ly took the path to the scaffold, is not sufficient to reconcile us 
to his hapless fate. What, then must have been the feelings of 
the desolate mother and widowed wife at beholding their high- 
souled virtuous protector dragged to the dog's death — what the 
maddening burstings of his own brain, as manacled and helpless 
hfc stood, the iscofFof his cold-blooded executioners ^ 

With not a friend to animate and tell 
To others ears that death became him well ; 
Around him foes to forge the ready lie. 
And blot life's latest scene with calumny." 

But this bloody leaf is closed for ever ; the contest has been 
transferred from the mortal body to the immortal mind, and the 
fate of tyranny is sealed. 

Immediately after the suppression of the rebellion, the mea- 
sure of the ^'Legislative Union" between the two countries 
was effected. It is not necessary to discuss the merits or de- 
merits of that measure, farther than to observe, (what cannot 
be disputed,) that it promoted Absenteeism to an extent un- 
precedented at any period, or in any part of the world. 

The reluctant assent of the Irish Catholics to the Union was 



16 

to have been repaid by Emancipation ; but Mr. Pitt, the then 
Premier, either would not, or could not, effect that measure, 
and in conseqiaence resigned office. Then gradually arose 
the "Catholic Association." This body must be considered 
the most important that ever existed in any ag€t or country 
not because it achieved Emancipation, but because it disco- 
vered the omnipotence o^ moral pow^er — that power which can 
fling tyranny from its high place, while it presents nothing 
tangible to its deadly gripe. Look at the history of Reform iii 
England. Before the Catholic Association grew into impor- 
tance, we find the Reformers butchered in the streets of Man- 
chester by the king's troops. Afterward, we find them con- 
structing Political Unions, on the model of the "Catholic As- 
sociation'' which made even Wellington quail before them, 
though holding the reins of Government, and backed by all the 
Tory and military force in the Empire. Emancipation made 
Roman Catholics eligible to Parliament aad other high offices 
but as the attainment of these is naturally restricted to the ve- 
ry highest and wealthiest of that profession, the middle ancJ 
lower classes are "exactly where they were," save, indeed, 
the honest pride they must feel at being no longer a disho- 
nored and degraded caste Reform shut against the Aristocra- 
cy the Rotten-Borough road to povver — but a road s-till lies o^ 
pen to them, through the absolute ownership of land. Look 
at the Corn-Laws. The manufacturing and commercial po- 
pulation have a certain sum to lay out in food — the landlorcS 
says "you shall not go where you please to lay out your mo- 
Xiey — you must buy from me ; and I will charge you owly 
double what you would pay elsewhere — and they must sub- 
mit to this extortion. Where, then, is the freedom — the po- 
pular power, about which we hear so much fuss and noise ? 
The creations ot a fevered brain, they vanish befo-re the first 
glance of returning reasor*. 

Another act of our Whig and Tory Aristocrats was the vo- 
ting of twenty millions, sterlingjto the kidnappers of the West 
Indies — a horde of anti-Christian inhuman planters—seize the 
poor negro on his native fields—compel him to work by the 
cruellest torture, and deprive him and his children of their li- 
berty for ever. If a thief steal your horse, and is detected, 
not only what he has stolen is taken from him but the law pun- 
ishes his crime with transportation or death. But the thief 
planters are detected, and what is the punishment awarded 
them byour Whig justices ? Why, twenty millions sterling; out 
of the pockets of the British people. 



17 



CHAPTER V. 



It's hardly in a body's power 

To keep ati times from being sour, 

To see how things are shared. — Burns. 

I NOW come to examine the gieat political questions of the 
day, and discuss how far they can remove the evils of society. 

The most important questions which at present occupy the 
public mind are the *' Vote bv Ballot"— '^Corporation Reform" 
—and the tough and-bloody *" Tithe Question." The ^' Vote by 
Ballot," by far the most important of these, has been opposed 
and defeated by Whig and Tory combined. A stinted reform 
of the English Corporations has been wrung from the reluc- 
tant Lords ; and a brtaking-up of the Irish Boroughs is like- 
ly to be effected. This will, to a certain extent, be an undoubt- 
ed benefit ; but the "Tithe Question"— I really cannot per- 
ceive how that can be settled to the advantage of the poor far- 
mer, while the landlord retains absolute ownership of the land. 

Every plan that have hitherto been proposed for settling 
this question were founded on the principle of the Parson lo- 
sing part, and receiving the remainder — partly out of the 
landloid's income, and partly out of the public purse ; and this 
plausible remedy seems to have satisfied the great body of the 
liberals, and even Mr. O'Connell,* who warmly recommended 
it. By the last Tithe Bill, (and the present, 1835, is a mere 
revival of the last,) the Parsons were to lose £26 15s. per 
cent., and to receive the remainder, ^£68 5s off the landlord's 
income, and £5 out of the public money. By these means, 
the farmer is greatly relieved ; but when we contemplate the 
damning fact, that landlords have, within the last fifty years, 
doubled— aye, quadrupled— the rents of land, we at once per- 
ceive that, by a gradual rise in rents, they can easily transfer 
the burthen of the Parsons from their own gentle backs to the 
bleeding shoulders that have hitherto borne it— nay, the land- 
lord would have it in his power to pocket the £26 15s., which 
the Parson loses, and the £5 which he receives of the public 
money ; as the farmer, eased to that amount, would, by bring- 
ing him to the old level, be able to. pay this money in the shape 
of additional rent. And what is to prevent this state of things 

*Vide his letter to the Irish people, placing the "Repeal of the Unioa** 
in abeyance. 



18 

from actually taking place ? The conscientious forbearance 
of the landlord I Oh, save me from such a safeguard ! Short 
leases will be a short protection to the farmer, and long leases 
are rather a scarce commodity — and as the landlord has a great 
aversion to lessening his income, the relief to leaseholders 
will, in all human probability, be added to the burthen of the 
yearly tenant^ alread}' the most oppressed member of the com- 
munity . Such a letter as this, from an Absent*;e to his agent, 
would not, in these times, be very extraordinary : 

London^ Sunday Morning. 

Jack, as usual, I took a peep in at the h^lls last night. By 
a cursed run of ill-luck 1 lost i£700, to Rifle, the celebrated 
rreneh gamester — this put me so devilishly out at elbows, that 
I had to borrow a fifty for a freak with a fine Opera girl. My 

Irish estate was worth ten thousand a-year before this d d 

Tithe Bill, which has reduced it to nine thousand. But as I 
cannot aftord to feed the black cormorants, you will have to* 
raise the rents, and send me the original sum. lam sorry that 
we cannot touch the leaseholders for the present, but when 
the leases drop we will have fair play at them — meanwhile my 
yearly tenants must make up the deficiency. Your's, &c^ 

Squander. 

As it may be supposed that good or ordinary landlords will 
do nothing like this, I shall relate ^.fact that lately fell under 
my observation, and which bears directly on the point. A 
Scotch gentleman, who possesses considerable property ia 
Donegal, and who enjoys, and, comparatively speaking de- 
serves the name of a good landlord, paid a visit to his pro- 
perty m the Autumn of '34. In an arrangement with his te- 
nantry, he took upon himself the payment of all Tithe on his. 
estate, but so raised the rents as to leave anett profit in his hands 
after paying the Parsons. This, it is evident, left the tenant 
as ill or worse off than before 

But it will be said that this is an evil which canaot be got 
rid of — that the "land is the property of the landlord," and 
as such he can do with it what he pleases. If this doctrine 
be true, farewell to all hope of raising the people to freedona 
and happiness. Talk not to me of relief from the burthen of 
Tithes or Taxes, while the landlords have power to lay on as 
much additional weight as we can bear. The mouey which 
we would save by a reduction of Church-livings, Taxes, &c.j 
would certainly make us richer ; but as this very money novr 

*The appropriate name of the noble gaming houses in London* 



19 



goes to the Aristocrac}^ in the shape of places, and Pensions,, 
the change would make them proportionably poorer^&o that 
this change would at once create an ability on the part of the 
people to pay advanced sums for the rents, & produce of Inad, 
and a necessity or excuse on the part ot the landlord s, for 
exacting them— this would be quickly done and the people 
would be reduced to the old level of rags and hunger. 



CHAPTER VI. 

" Such dupes are men to custom, and so prone 
To reverence what is ancient and can plead 
A course of long observance for its use, 
That even servitude, the w^orst of ills. 
Because transmitted down from sire to son. 
Is kept and guarded as a sacred thing."— Cowper. 

Thus it is plain that if landlords possess absolute ownership 
of the land, the people never can become really independent. 
Either the landlords have a right to absolute ownership, or the 
people have a right to independence. One of these two rights 
must destroy the other—both cannot exist at once. This 
forces us on the question— "Does this unlimited ownership 
rightfully belong to the landlords ?" This is a question of aw- 
ful importance— on it rests the freedom, the happiness of the 
human race. The landlord answers—" 1 purchased it with 
liiy money, or my ancestor bequeathed it to me as an inheritance.'^ 
To this I reply, you could not purchase what no man had a right 
to sell — nor could j^our ancestor bequeath to you what did not, 
and could not, belong to himself— namely, unlimited ownership 
of the soil. ' 

Before we investigate the right of absolute ownership, let us 
examine how it actually works— for the good or for the evil of 
society. Alas, we need not stop long on this inquiry. The 
splendour of dress and equipage, the thousand luxuries, the 
ease and sloth, which this power basely keeps to itself, and the 
shapeless dirty rags, the miserable shelter, thecontinuous toil, & 
the wretched food which it ruffianously assigns to its victims*, 

.* In travellingover a mountainous district of Donegall, some years 
since, I observed a number of men at work, repairing the highway. They 
were carrying gravel on their backs, across a moor, in which they sunk 
almost to the knee at every step. Never before had I seen human beings 
subjected to such brute excessive labour. On inquiry I found they were em- 



20 

show Irt a moment its villainous e6fects on society. Instead of 
landlords being the promoters of improvement and civilization, 
which, under just and proper restrictions, they would be, they 
are an effectual drag-chain upon agriculture, and, consequently, 
on every other kind of improvement. Instead of being the 
regulators, they are now, intact, the derangers and disturbers 
of society. As 

"Facts are chiels that winna ding 
And downa be disputed. "^ 
I shall here mention one out of thousands such that came un- 
der my own observation. Not long since, purchasing hay of 
a small farmer, and observing that his little meadow had produ- 
ced a very bad and scanty crop, I was not a little severe on him 
tor his idolence, particularly as 1 saw his farm aflforded many 
facilities of fertilizing the spot. 'I have no lease," replied the 
poor man, "and why should I labour to improve, when I know 
thatm^ rent would be raised to the full value of my improvements. 
This is the true secret ofour want and misery — this the great 
blight which, hanging over the land, k*»,eps in a state of na- 
ture ourreclaimable wastes*,and blasts with comparative steril- 
ity our most fertile vales Every shilling of capital, and every 
day of toil that the occupier may expend on impiovement, is 
forfeited to the landlord; and, should his condition approximate 
to decency, instead of the voice of approval or encouragement, 
he hears the agent growl forth, "that fellow can live as well as 
myself." There is, then, a valuation held, and a few pounds 
added to his rent reels him back to the level of wretchedness ! 

ployed by their landlord, (a resident gentleman, of considerable property) 
that if they refused to engage in the work, he would thrust them out of 
their miserable homes; and, Hear it England! Hear it the world! that he 
allowed them for this Ubour four-pence a day! 

*0n our extensive moors, beside the hut of the cow-herd, I have fre- 
quently intertwined the luxuriant corn stalk with the heath-shrub that 
grew beside it, without even a fence dividing them. These cultivated 
patches were too small to tempt the voracity of the landlord — or flourish- 
ing in the far waste they probably escaped his cognizance. The grain 
might be worth six or eight pounds an acre, whist the immeasurable waste 
lying around, though easily susceptible of the same improvement, was 
not worth, in proportion, as many pence — and yet economists, by a strange 
infatuation, continue to insist that we require the assistance of English 
capital. Ireland has inexhaustible capital running to waste in her teeming 
soil, and the vigorous industry ofher sons and daughters. 

Our men eagerly seek the most toilsome work at the remuneration of 
6d. to 8d. per day. — Our women are still more industrious; if the price of 
linen yarn afford them anything above a penny for spinning a hank, (3240 
yards,) an excessively laborious days work, the market is overstocked 
with that article- What a change would these ener^es produce if pro- 
perly called forth and directed. 



21 

And is this the tenure by which land must be held? — this the 
feeling under which it is to be cultivated? — and must barren- 
ness and desolation spread over God's earth, and discontent and 
misery dwell with his people, that the landlord may indulge in 
his lust of power, and wallow in degrading luxury? The ad- 
vocate of absolute ownership damns his name and authority, 
by stamping them on the vile and disgusting picture. 

How different— how beautiful would be the natural state of 
things : The occupying peasant secure of his little farm for- 
ever at a trifling rent then, indeed , might he improve, certain 
that he and his children would enjoy the benefit of his indus- 
try—then would he (undrained by heartless extortion) be en- 
abled to render his field fruitful, and his cottage comfortable. 
What a change, to behold the landlord residing among his 
happy people, receiving from them just a sufficiency for his 
reasonable wants, comprising the real elegancies of life ; and 
in return, stimulating^ their industry by his advice and encou- 
ragement, and civilising and refining them by his intercourse. 
What a change for the landlord himself, from a life of worth- 
less indolence and criminal excess, to one of useful, virtuous 
activity. It would, indeed, raise him from being the curse of 
society to be its blessing. This beautiful and happy system 
would be rendered complete by prohibiting the holding of 
more than than a limited quantity of land by any individual 
farmer, and forbidding the letting of any land at a higher than 
the landlord's rent. Should other reorulatinoj details be ne- 
cessary to its perfection, they would naturally suggest them- 
selves in the working of the system. 

But it may be thought that this would be merely a partial 
benefit to society, affecting only the occupiers of land. Now, 
it is quite evident that the industrious man who holds no 
land would come in for a for a full share of the benefit. In 
such a salutary state of society as this would natuially induce, 
and of which we at present can form no exact idea, he would 
find ample employment and liberal remuneration for his indus- 
try whether laborious, mechanical, or qommercial*. He woulj 



* An inevitable consequence of this happy change would be an improve- 
ment in the clothing, food, and other domestic comforts of the people. — 
Suppose every individual in Ireland could afford to expend two addition- 
al pounds annually on these necessaries, this, by adding fifteen millions to 
our home consumption, would raise a very unusual stir among our trades- 
men and shopkeepers; and further, country people, comfortable and hap- 
py at home, would not be so ready as they now are to rush into towns and 
starve the trade of shopkeepers and mechanics. 



22 

be enabled to realize capital, with which he could easily (if he 
pleased) purchase a piece of land» where every farm would be 
a freehold. I shall hereafter show (if it be not, indeed, self-evi- 
dent,) that the change could be effected without the least con- 
tusion or evil of any kind — that it would be subversive only 
of luxury and sloth, and productive of refinement, virtue, and 
happiness. I shall now proceed to show that the landlords 
have no right to withhold their co-operation from the good 
work ; and in doing so^ I shall not at all refer to Christian mo- 
rality, in support of my view of this question. The votarist of 
that beautiful law is commanded to part with what really does 
belong to him, for the general good and the landlords would, I 
doubt,scoff at such doctrine; but if I can prove that these 
same landlords have long kept what does not at all belong to 
them, the common laws of society will compel them to give 
it up. 



CHAPTER VII. 

Nature affords at least a glimmering lio^ht ; 

The lines, though touch'd butiaintly, are drawn right. Pope 

IS THE PRESENT ABSOLUTE OWNERSHIP OF THE SOIL 

FOUNDED IN RIGHT AND JUSTICE ? 
To reduce this question to its most tangible shape, let us 
take the very best title to land that is to be found in these 
kingdoms, and see how far it entitles a landlord to the unlimi- 
ted power which he now exercises over the land. 

Now, the best title that can possible exist, must be that 
which was handed down from the patriarchal and feudal times, 
and. confirmed to its possessors by the different dynasties that 
held sway since those ancient times. If there be any title more 
perfect than another, it is this; and if it be rationally proved that 
even this title is subject to restrictions and limitations, it fol- 
lowi> that every other title is subject to at least the same limi- 
tations and restraints. In order to come at the real nature and 
extent of this title, we must commence our examination at its 
first rise in the patriarchal and feudal times, and if it appear 
that the ownership of land was not then absolute and unlimited 
we must inquire when, and how it became so. The first owner- 
ship of land was that of the patriarch who settled with his 
family on a certain extent of unoccupied soil. From the mo- 
ment of his occupation he naturally acquired a property in 
the land and if another settler afterwards came to the same 



23 

spot heat on<iC acknowledged the light of the first occupier, and 
■withdrew to an unoccupied place — but mark, if the first set- 
tler should claim ownership of what he had not in occupation, 
the incomer would very naturally, refuse to recognize any 
such claim. These were the circumstances under which the 
first ownership of land was asserted and recognized, and occu- 
pafiow alone gave that ownership. In the lapse of time, the 
family of the patriarch became numerous ; his children and 
grand-children grew up around him, and every branch of the 
family had the grazing of its flock and herd on the common 
territory — the unnatural thought of giving the entire property 
to his eldest son, never entered the head of the good old man. 
Indeed, an^' attempt of the kind would only have produced 
anarchy and ruin in the little commonwealth; as nature would 
impel every member of the community to rise up against the 
unjust and unnatural decree. 

Well, then, we see the little state increasing in numbers 
and importance, their jealousies and disputes (if suc^ they had) 
referred to their Paternal Magistrate — we see the person of 
their common father reverenced, and his word law — we see 
him ''gathered to his fathers," and his eldest son, their second 
father, and, of course, the most experienced man in the com- 
munity, called on to act in the magisterial capacity of his fa- 
thei, still having the go ot his flocks on the common property, 
& nothing more save the honour and respect due to his station. 

In process of time the family becoming more and more nu- 
merous, forms a tribe or clan, of which this magistrate, or his 
successor, is the chief. The labour and attention necessary 
to regulate the affairs of the multiplying people, and dispense 
justice to all, is daily increasing, so that the chief, in attending 
to it, cannot pay the necessary attention to his flocks, 
herds, and other domestic concerns. While his time was em- 
ployed in the service of the community, it became equita- 
ble and necessary that the community should support 
him and his family. Then it was that each member of the 
clan first contributed a sheep or bullock towards the support 
of the chief, not as recognizing any right or property, on his part, 
to the soil on which their cattle pastured, but as a just and in- 
dispensable return for his services in regulating the affairs of 
the clan. It was, in fact^ neither more nor less than wages/or 
service done. Let us suppose, for a moment, that the chief 
refused to perform his duty ; that he removed himself and his 
family to another country, and demanded the usual supply 
of sheep and bullocks to be gent to hira for his support; 



^ 24 

what would be the Indignant reply of the clan to the va- 
gabond ? "You sought another country — let that country 
support you ; for us, so far from contributing to your support, 
we alienate and utterly deny your blood, and yoU shall nev^r 
more make one of our family.'^ They would follow up this 
renouncement by electing a new chief, and giving tO;him the ho- 
nor and emolument which the other profligate had abandoned. 
If such was the title of the ancient chief, and if such would 
have been his treatment should he villainously desert his post, 
let us inquire what has altered the case as regards his successor 
of the present day. In this inquiry it is, above all things, neces- 
sary that we be cool and impartial. If there has arisen, or 
possibly could arise, any circumstance or event in the lapse of 
ages, that could fairly and honestly do away with the original 
right of the occupier, and vest an absolute and unconditional 
right in the chief, why, I grant that the present regulation is just 
and ought to be quietly submitted to. But if on a calm and ra- 
tional jrevieW of the intervening time, and of every possible 
€vent that could arise in it, we find that there did not and could 
not arise any circumstance that could fairly give him the unli- 
mited ownership which he now assumes, I say that in this case 
the occupiers should demand, peacefuly but firmly, the restora- 
tion of the origin'! rightof which they're been unjustly deprived. 
In this examination, I will not rest the claims of the succes- 
sive chiefs merely on the service they may have actually per- 
formed to their people. I will also give them credit for all the 
good services that it was possible and even impossible for them 
to perform, and then show that all these put together could 
not give them a shadow of right in the soil. Suppose that a 
neighboring people waged an unjust and exterminating war 
on the clan, and that by the wisdom and valour of their chief 
the formidable enemy is repelled, and happiness and peace re- 
turns where nothing was anticipated but desolation and death; 
suppose that the famine was supplied, and the pestilence stayed 
by the knowledge and foresight of the chief — and surely this is ' 
driving the supposition far enough — still, all these services 
could not entitle him to ownership of the land. Could he seize 
it, in opposition to the will of the people? Such a seizure 
would be death-deserving robbery. Could the people them- 
selves bestow it on him, in reward of his services .'' They had 
no authority to do so ; they had themselves only a life-interest 
in it. The land was indisputable given to supply the natural 
wants of man ; and while n\en bequeath to their children the 
wants SLiid necessities of nature, I deny that they have any right 



to cieprive the people of the means given by God for their sup*^ 
ply. Is there It, slave of custom so stulified as to deny the self- 
evident truth of this position? Though his prejudices set rea- 
son and common sense at defiance, let him bewere how he op- 
poses his dulness to the judgement and authority of the Most 
High, as recorded in the wise and beautifnl regulation given 
by God himself to Moses : 

Letitiucs^ Chap, xxv, v, 23, — The land shall not he sold for ever ; for 
the land IS MlJ^TE, for ye are strangers and sojourners with me. 

24. — And in all the land of your possession, you shall grant a redemp*- 
tion for the land. 

25. — If thy brother be waxen poor, and hath soid away some of his pos- 
session, and if any of his kin come to redeem it, then shall he redeem that 
which his brother sold. 

26. — And if the man have none to redeem it, and himself be able to 
redeem it. 

27. — Then let him count the years of the sale thereof, and restore the 
surplus unto the man to whom he sold it, that he may return unto his 
possession. 

28. — But if he be not able to restorer/ to him, then that which is sold 
shall remain in the hand of him that hathj bought it, until the year of the 
jubilee, and in the jubilee it shall go out and he, (the original possessor) 
shall return unto his possession. 

* Though we see that the land itself was not handed over to the absolute 
will of man, yet as the use of it was given to him during his incumbency 
produce growing on, and minerals extracted from it during that time, be- 
came the absolute property of man. These productions, however enhan- 
ced by art or industry, continued to be absolute property ; because such 
art or industry was the disposable property of man — thus Houses, Cattle, 
Merchandize, &lc. — things produced to man's industry and evanescent as 
himself, are absolute property; and man's claim to unlimited right in 
them rests on just and very o6uiows grounds. But land, both in its very 
nature and in relation to man's claim on it is entirely diflerent to these, 
and to point out the grounds of his unlimited right in it, would be a task 
indeed. Unchanged and undecaying, it will put forth its freshness when 
his "very sepulchere is tenantless"— aye, when the dust of his latest pos- 
terity has passed from its mother earth, she will laugh at the futile claim 
that once held her in trammels, assert her maternal'right, & pour forth plen- 
ty to her future children- Ah, Landlord ! where will then be your absolute 
ownership.? "Will your vouchers vouch you no more of your purchases 
and double ones, too, than the length and breadth of a pair of indentures"? 

And where, let me seriouslyfask you, is your rightful claim to it now? 
Produced exclusively by the Almig-hty Power, does your creating labour 
give you aright in it? Hung upon nothing, and driven with inconceivable 
velocity 8f precision through space, does your guiding poiver give you a 
right in it ? Depending for its fertility on the influence of globes of doubt- 
ful nature, undefined dimensions, and indeterminate distance, does your 
calculating wisdom give you di right in it? Nothing but your wants 
and nakedness appealing to its Creator could give you a claim on it — 
those wants supplied, the claim is discharged, and your further title — save 
as being subservient to the general welfare — is mere cheat andimposture. 



2^. 

Here is the complete line of demarcation drawn between 
land property, which is subjected to regulations and restrictions, 
2iXid private property, which, by the same authority, is left to the 
absolute will of the owner. Under this wise and salutary reg- 
ulation it was impossible for any individual to acquire an estate. 
Its Divine Author saw that the acquisition of all land by a few 
individuals would lea J to tyranny and excess on the one side, 
and to privation and dependence on the other — that it would 
lead to the very state of society in which we at present groan 
— and, therefore he forbade it. HE fsays- ^^The land is mine 
far ye are strangers and sojourners with we;" and the landlord 
blasphemously shouts that it is his, and he makes us strangers 
and sojourners with him. Now, if we recognize the "abso- 
lute ownership" of land, we virtually acknowledge that the 
landlordis the fountain of truth and justice and that, opposed 
to them. Reason — Nature — Nay, God Almighty himself — are 
nothing ! And what authority have we for holding an opinion 
so monstrous, so blasphemous ? The authority of custom, and 
of custom, too, that took its rise in the barbarous middle ages 
ot the world, from villainous encroachment and the "stand and 
deliver" force of arm. Perish such authority ! 

Having digressed into an imaginary picture of great exploits 
and virtuous services, and shown that even these could by no 
means purchase ownership of the soil, I now turn to the "cold 
reality — to the encroachment of the Cheat, and the sword of 
the Bravo. 

We left the patriarchal chief performing the duties, and re-^ 
ceiving the wages of his magisterial office. So far, all was 
perfectly fair and just ; but, as power begets ambition, and af- 
fluence generates indolence and profusion, he (or his successor) 
gradually increased his demand of contributions, and began ta 
give way to negligence, and caprice, in the discharge of his 
duty. Any person that has observed the ideal superiority and 
ignorant pride, of the stripling aristocrat, will easily perceive 
that the son of the chief, surrounded by attendaiits and served 
with more respect than fell to the lot of his compeers, ve- 
ry naturally imbibed the seeds of pride and arrogance; grew up a 
worse man than his father, and of course made further encroach- 
ments on the rights of his people. In the lapse of ages and 
the absence of written documents, the original compact be- 
lt may be objected, that reclamation and improvement give a property 
in the soil. Be it so: the occupiers will then be the sole proprietors, 
asallimprovent has been effected by them, or by the money extorted off" 
them. 



27 

tween the'people and the chief, became indistinctly remember- 
ed, or entirely forgotten. The annual sheep and bullock con- 
tinued to be paid but whether for the magisterial services of the 
chief, or his supposed right in the soil does not appear in those 
dark times, tu be perfectly understood or much attended to. — 
Then came domestic war or foreign invasion. In those com- 
motions, some one chief, superior to the rest obtained sway, 
and, on the return of peace, became king. The neighboring 
chiefs who acted with, or were subdued by him, formed an un- 
ion under him, and bound themselves to support his government 
with supplies and man. The new-made king, in return, con- 
firmed to them the possession of the land on which their res* 
pectiv^ clans dwelt, and its is probable that it was at this junc- 
ture that the chief first claimed " ownership''^ of the soil. Bui 
whether it was at this juncture, or before it, or after it, the clain: 
was alike unjust; his ovvn dishon^^st encroachment, could not 
give him such ownership, neither could the king give it — in 
fact what was the king only a chief swelled a little bigger than 

his fellows — 

*' A pagod thing of sabre sway. 
With front of brass and feet oi clay." 
And I cannot see that such a 'Hhing'' had any right whatever to 
deprive the occupier of his property; and bestow it on the chief. 
But however the right may have been, at the point preceding 
the introduction of government and the laws, we find the chief 
in possession, not only of the soil, but of the very lives and 
limhi of the people. The remuneration for his services he frau- 
dulently and impiously perverted into a payment for the soil and 
the seas(3n5~and the natural duty of every man to arm in de- 
fence of the community,he by the most villainous encroachment, 
eorrupied into military service due to himself. In fact the his- 
tory of the Nobles — ancient as well as modern — is one scene of 
wrongs and oppressions practised on the people, and yet man — 
base degenerate man! — reverences the descendents of these 

worthies, merely because 

u Their blood 

Has crept through scoundrels ever since the flood." 
But man will yet break through his mental thraldom, and such 
worthies will receive their due, in the contempt and scorn of a 
regenerated people. 

Scrutinize the question, in all its bearings— turn it ronnd and 
round, and examine it in every possible point of view, and we 
find that nothing could ^xveunlimited ownership of land ^ except 
force or fraud— and the times are, I trust, fast passing away in 
which these could give a sufficient title. 



28 



CHAPTER VIII. 



As to a man farming his own property, it is a heavenly life hut devil 
take the life of reaping the fruits that another must ea.t."—Bvv.NS. —Letter 
to Mrs. Dunlop. 

Before dismissing the subject another question remains to be 
disposed of, namely, can any peasantry be independent or hap- 
py under the system of absolute ownership. 

It is useless to waste time in discussing a question the merits 
of which are, indeed, self-evident. Independent they cannot 
by any means be, even thoagh permitted to hold their land at a 
shilling an acre; and the happiness that exists, only by the suf- 
ferance of another, is, at best of a very doubtful quality. 

'Tis true, there are in Ireland some- districts comparitively 
prosperous and independent— such are the Northern manufac- 
turing counties. And are those districts prosperous and inde- 
pendent under the "absolute ownership" of the landlords. No 
such thing. The industry and skill of the people of these parts 
would be of little service to them if the laiadlord were not 
checked in his career of extortion by the deep undergrowl o-f 
the people. Our hereditary despots may talk as they will of the 
insubordination of other districts of Ireland , but in no place 
has their greed been effectually resisted but in the North. Who. 
has not heard of '^Tommy Downshire."* The manner in which 
he enforces his right is not, perhaps, the most unexceptionable, 
hntihQ principle he vindicates is the purest and best, and it ought 
to be contended for in a manner worthy itself, morally and con- 
stitutionally, like any other gre^it political question. 

If any man doubt that things are managed thus in the 
"North," let him take the following fact as a sample of what is 
doing there. A gentleman resident in the county of Donegal^ 
some years ago, employed an efficient agent on an estate which 
he possesses near Lurgan, (County Armagh.) This hireling 
agreeably to his orders set about raising rents and harassing 
the tenantry, who, instead of patiently submitting to his "abso- 
lute" power, assembled in thousands, at noon-day, breathing 
discontent and vengeance. Under the influence of bodily fear, 
the agent requests the presence of his master to allay the dan- 
gerous discontent. When the landlord arrives on th© ground, 
he is presented with a petition, in substance like this.— "The 

* The name assumed by the agrarian regulatars of Armagh and Down, 



29 

discontents of your tenantry do not arise from any disinclination 
to pay a fair and equitable rent for the land which themselves 
and their ancestors have occupied for centuries ; they beg to re- 
fer you to the rate of rents charged on the neighboring estates 
and they will cheerfully pay as much as their neighbors." The 
landlord replied that he did not wish to be considered an oppres- 
sor, that he would reduce from 40s. to 2Ss- an acre, but that he 
would sell the estate rather than make further reduction. — 
These terms were agreed to. The tenantry pay 28s. ; whereas, 
had they quietly submitted to the 40s. regimen, it is very likely 
that, in a country so rich and fertile, the regulation would, ere, 
now, bedSS. 

This principle is in general operation in the Northern counties. 
It effectually curbs absolute ownership, and so far they hold 
their prosperity by a direct departure from the settled state of 
things. They can now enjoy the fruits of their industry; but 
who would enjoy those fruits, if the landlord were permitted to 
fleece them as he pleased 7 The sturdy inhabitant of the North 
would, I doubt, in that case, be allowed the hunger and rags 
which now falls to the lot of his rugged brother of the South. 

As the principle of "Tommy Downshire" is a very natural 
one, springing out of common sense and common justice, it is 
no way strange that it has manifested itself in various parts of 
the country, but like the good seed that "fell amongst thorns," 
it has been choked up by lawless combination and agrarian 
outrage, things which should not be tolerated, and which met 
with no impunity, except in the " North." The people are al- 
ready aware of the vast importance of this principle ; let them 
direct their attention to its manifest justice ^ and there is a moral 
power abroad that will ensure its complete and speedy triumph. 

When we consider the diversity of the human character, it 
will appear strange, that, of the whole number in Great Britain 
there would not be found one individual landlord to do his duly. 
Laying aside all the obligations which the divine and beautiful 
law of Christianity lays upon us: — and oh! these should not bo 
entirely disregarded — what an honest fame could he acquire — 
what aglorious name could he transmit to posterity, by giving us 
the first practical example of the great change which must, ere 
long, inevitably take place. How simple, and to a benevolent 
mind, how delightful the task. Imagine his tenantry convened, 
and the good man addressing them in language like this : 

"My Friends.— It is acknowledged on all sides, that the 
present system of society is productive of many evils, and many 
are the plans and measures proposed for their removal. "Repeal 



30 



of the Union," ^'Abolition of Tithe," "Poor Laws " "Public 
Works," and so forth, are alternately in fashion. None of these 
can be effected without difficulty and delay, and if effected - 
they would, I fear, rather alleviate than remove the evils of so- 
ciety. 

Amid all these proposed reforms and remedies, a thought has 
struck me, that it is in the power of every landlord to make 
his tenantry comfortable independent of legal enactments, and 
1 intend to try the experiment forthwith. I will reduce my 
tents to a fourth of their present standard, and grant perpetual 
leases of all my land— to every tenant a lease of what he now 
occupies, except where the farm may exceed twenty acres in 
which case the overplus will be given to those whose holdings 
are least. I will reside among you, and it shall not be permitted 
to sell your interest in the land, save under certain restrictions : 
neither shair you be allowed, in any case to sub let at a dearer 
rent than I charge. I shall also require you to fertilize your 
farms and improve your dwellings, and in doing so, I shall be 
happy to lend you ail the assistance in my power. I have em- 
ployed a skilful agriculturalist, and his business shall be to give 
you whatever instruction you may require. Your fields must 
and will be fertile, and your cottages neat and comfortable.—' 
You, my friends, may suppose that lam sacrificing my inclina- 
tions and convenience, in order to promote your good. I have 
no such merit— it is no sacrifice to quit the follies of fashion and 
sensual gratifications of luxury. 

My days were lost in pursuits unworthy an intellectual and 
useful bemg, and my nights sought an escape from apathy and 
discontent in the whi r Ipool of amusing folly. I saw my wealth 
wasted on the worthless, the profligate, aiid the vile,* and I re- 
flected that my conduct involved a virtuous and worthy people 
in penury and distress. From that moment 1 resolved to devote 
my energies to other and nobler pursuits, and I am now come 
among my people with a fixed determination to make them 
happy." 

What evil could possibly result from a change like this ? On 
the contrary, what beautiful order would it not produce— what 
an impetus would it give to agriculture— what a vivifiying spi- 
rit would it spread over the land > Fondly does the mind pic- 
ture to itself the beauty, the happiness that springs forth under 
the regenerating system. The renovated fertility of the field, 

* It is not the landlord who enjoys, or can enjoy his income- but the- 
cheats ana hangers-on that every where surrounded him. 



31 



Ana snail that picture be reall^pH ; «i,„ii • • , 

dence bound over the Ian,) L; ■ ', ''*" J^^""' indepen- 
ery fireside or ,h»n n '. T"^ P'^^'j' ^"^^ 'omfof' ^ ev- 
^iUern7bHgh over God wr-'^'''"7/°"''""<^ '° ^'^-'^ "" 
man the Wretched boon of ?, "' ?t ''°'* ""' *° ''^P'ndenf 
choice! VVhatistheTowl T M^''rS"'^• Ours is the 
r«yed against the win of r <"," '''<'i"«d"i»tocracy, whenar- 
the pub^c m nd buT rile iLTf ""? '"'«"f' "al people ? Let 
c.e.: andstroi thourtnr'L't'^'',' f"^* ''« «"*'"'*- 
prejudice and plunder !f a thn- ,f ^ ''*'. e^t'enched in the 

t^haidecree,anlt^afdSr.l^:e^^^^^ 



NOTE 



raggedfwretch'ed p'eaLntry ": Vb^arri th 'h' '/"^'t "' *'^« 
sin on his shoulder, hurrying to the dem/ f^ ^' f original 
and agents. Manv of fW^ / f demesnes of our landlords 

«ey of sixteen^ eUt en r "h 1 1"?'"^^ '° '^"-l " J°«- 
distanc, in returning hor^eon-l ''"^.' ''^''"''" *« ^""^ 
their task-masters n^ moTe Iha/ed" ^Sd t^l '"^l'^'"' 
riosity to go to see these 'vor.^K. 1 ^ °"''® ''^'' '"^^ cu- 

groundof tn Absentee" a;j,t't:asrMl "''"'^" °" "^^ 
caldroDofpotatoeshadbeenhnil»if ?,'" , y- ^^ "nmense 
buds (germenatint shoots? ''"''"''^''//''^'^kr^afasti butas the 
had been suffered to remaiTrT ''^.^"^^^^^-<>-y^"i long- 
to tell whetherlhev wS-eootator' '^"f''' '^^e an Irishman 
ted weeds. These wirhriflf °/ "J'f'^'y " '""''^ "^ «oncre- 
-pply of them, wal tLbeS^ ^2"?'^, ^""^ "° -- 
gerly, with the exceDtionnft?/ ' *'^"''^"='i "" partook ea- 
ting at all, and k^ptv^alkinf XutTh^ "''"' T^" ''^'^""'^ «''- 
possible humour if I rn ,M »^ ^" ^™'""'' »"' '" 'be best 

compressed hp'couutrf-'''"^^' ^'T ^''^''^' ^'°^ and 
hadUerfoodalloStK ?/'"''' '''«.''°™««''<= menials 

stout young fellows wholK'"*^'."" V^'^^'^h' a couple of 

atthe Ubour ardie! tthev •"r/ " ^"^ '" ''^^'^ °» 'heser/, 

there was an Overseer ippo„tTdfw<;i°- '»''"/' ^^" ^^o-gh, 

^iththecart-.hip.bX^;^ito:rd:i:;feTCi^"^^^^^^ 



32 

The meal over, all were on their spades, straining and stri- 
ving, and led on by the two stout domestics, the driver urging 
on the hindermost by threats and blows. "It's a great shame, 
Paddy, that you don't put the conceit out o' them fellows," 
said a middle-aged peasant, whose gaunt yisage and bare bones 
sufficiently indicated why he did not engagejin the contest him- 
self. The athletic young man to whom this was addressed — and 
who, I perceived, had not partaken of the hogs-meal — ^brought 
all his suppressed chagrin to bear on his spade. The result was 
an obstinate struggle with the "leaders," whom he fairly dis- 
tanced to the top of the field. 

Another course was commenced but Paddy, lagged behind. 
For some time, the Driver did not heed him probably suppo- 
sing that he would in a start take in his lost ground, but Paddy 
contmued to move slowly and tardily, far in the rere of his fel- 
lows. This was too much, and the hoarse voice of the driver 
roused him from his apparent lassitude. To the exclamation 
of *move on, sir, and no scheming.' Paddy rephed, "Pll move 
as I please." To bear with this would be to forfeit his office, 
and, indeed the Driver seemed to be excited outof his'prudence 
by language so new to his ear.— "Take that you scoundrel," 
and a swinging blow of the cudgel fell into the hand that was 
thrown up°o receive it. "Pll take it, you dog and give it to yoUy 
too," said Paddy, as his iron grasp mastered the bludgeon, 
and, with the rapadity of a flash, bringing it to bear on the tem- 
ple of the Driver left him sprawling in the furrow—then snap- 
ping the bludgeon across his Rnee, he shouldered his spade and 
quitted the field. He was servant to one of the tenants, and 
consequently, beyond the vengeance of agent and landlord. 



CHAPTER, IX. 

CONCLUDING— ADDRESSED TO THE WISE AND WELL-. 
ENOUGH. 

Our needful knowledge, like our needful food, 
Unhedged lies open in the common field, 
And bids all welcome to the vital feast; 
You scoin what lies befre you, in the page 
Of nature and experience, moral truth 
And dive in science for distinguished names, 
Sinking in virtue as you rise in fame; 
Your learning, Hke the lunar beam, affords 
Light but not heat.— Young. 

Though the inherent principles of our nature undoubtedly I«an 



33 

to virtue and philanthropy, yet man, in the present incongrous 
state of society, will be found much wrapped up in self, and 
seldom lastingly affected by the contemplation of ills that can- 
not reach that darling object. Hence, I anticipate the hostili- 
ty of the well-enough portion of society to my views and opin- 
ions; but in the retreats of toiling indigence, certain wants and 
necessities will second my views and demonstrate the truth of 
mydoctrines. To those whose wisdom, and wants too^ are satis- 
fied with the present "order" ot things Heave the task of pro- 
ving that Nature, in yielding the necessaries of life only to the 
hand of industry, intended those necessaries for such as per- 
form no industry at all — that in producing the supports of life 
in economical and illimitably-spread quantities, Nature inten- 
ded that they should be consumed in pyramidic and wasteful 
heaps — that in denying to every individual the capability of ac- 
tually enjoying more than a very limited quantity of these sup- 
ports, Nature intended that some individuals should collect and 
consume a thousand times the prescribed quantity. The wise and 
well-enough must prove to me the truth of these things ; and 
further, they must convince me that the landlords have formed 
the mighty earth, and swung it on its eternal course]; that to 
them we owe the vivifying smile of Spring, the creative warmth 
of Summer, and the serene ripening virtues of the Autumnal 
sky — then will I acknowledge their "absolute ownership," and 
agree, that to them belongs the produce of the |.revolving sea- 
sons, whilst we]poor devils, should thankfully content ourselves 
with the gleanings of the ample field. 

But, if we may be permitted to divest our landlords of their 
divinity, and contemplate them as human and social beings, 
we will find that it is a withering error to suppose that they 
have no duty to perform — yet this seems to be an universally 
received opinion — as who will withhold the name of a good 
landlord from him who treats his tenantry with forbearance, ^ 
and performs occasional acts of beneficence? But this does 
not, by any means, constitute a good landlord. Like every o- 
ther member of society, he has a duty to perform, an important 
and indispensible duty, and to the non-performance of that du- 
ty society owes much of its crime, more of its ignorance, and 
almost the sum-total of its misery. The merchant, physi- 
cian, and lawyer, the smith, shoemaker; and tailor — in fine, 
every class in the community have a duty to perform, and 
should any of these refuse to perform that duty, what a confu- 
sion would ensue ? And when the most influential class refu- 
ses to perform its duty, and leaves man literally to run wild 



34 

without the necessary means of support, it is no way strange 
that the result is a derangement of social order, ignorance, and 
degradation, misery and crime. 

There is not a worshipper of the present "order" more a- 
rerse to giving an uncultivated people irresponsible power than 
I. I know their faults. — I have been more than once placed 
within a hair 's-breadth of death by their ferocity, and I shud- 
der at the idea of relaxing fo» a moment the iron girdle of law 
by which they are bound ; but I would civilize them, and they 
would soon become another and a better, peopl«. No longer 
would they regard an infraction of the law, as a deed of devoted 
virtue, because the law would acknowledge and protect ther 
rights. No more would the stripling, ere yet the down is on 
his cheek, pant to secure "his fame" in the drunken brawl; 
but in the day-spring of civilization, other views would dawn on 
his benighted mind. ^nd the people never can be civilized — 
I assert it fearlessly and emphatically — by any other than the 
landlord's agency. His influence pervades all, practically and 
minutely, and that influence alone can civilize and make all 
happy. 

That human misery can be justly estimated only b)' those 
who/ec/it, may appear a strange and novel doctrine ; yet ex- 
perience, that "teacher of fools," has convinced me of its 
truth. In traversing the wilder regions of Donegal, I frequent- 
ly had occasion to cross a ferry on one of ihe indentations of the 
coast. Here I witnessed the boatman's family at their meal 
of bog potatoes, often without a relish oisalt — never with any 
thing better. 1 saw his children from five to ten years of age, 
without any covering except a piece of ragged flannel pending 
from the waist, and on one, a child of about three years old, I 
never saw a rag of clothing of any kind, though 1 saw it many 
times, both in Summer and Winter. It is now several years 
since I passed that way ; and why is the scene of misery yet 
so deep in my recollection? A sympathy, not so much for the 
miserables as for myself^ stamped it indelibly there. Happen- 
ing to be detained by a tempestuous water, I was necessitated 
to become the boatman's inmate for two days. The couch of 
rushes, without any covering save the hovels roof, and the 
scanty meal of potatoes, that smelled and tasted of (the turf on 
which they grew, were freely conceded to me; and nothing bet' 
ter could be procured for money j though several abodes of man were 
scattered along the bank. At the close of the second day, as I 
crossed the water and staggered to the next village, whilst my 
life-blood delayed in all its channels, I could then form an esti- 



85 

mate of human misery. And the poor boatman yet drags out 
a life of the same unvaried privation without one consolation, 
if he cannot derive it from the consciousness of being surroun- 
ded by thousands as wretched as himself.* 

In contemplating the providence of Nature, yre perceive the 
most watchful beneficence joined to the profoundest wisdom ; 
and is it not a sin of no common magnitude to counteract that 
beneficence — to nullify the decrees of that wisdom ? In tropi- 
cal climates, almost all water is impregnated with the spawn of 
insects, th*^ use of which would soon prove destructive to hu- 
man life. Pepper, or spices of any kind, destroy this spawn, 
and Nature, ever watchful and benevolent, sends them growing 
on almost every shrub. In the British Islands, Nature exerts 
the same maternal watchfulness. — If we have not spices grow- 
ing on every shrub, it is because our pure waters require no an- 
titode. Wholesome food and drink, and comfortable clothing 
and lodging,!are what Nature requires to support us in health and 
vigour, and our tender parent has placed them within the easy 
grasp of our industry ; and shall we permit a few unnatural mon- 
sters, the plague and curse of society, to wrest those necessaries 
from our grasp — to counteract the good intentions of God and 
Nature — and deliver us over to famine and disease?! 

Oh for a spark of superhuman energy! to impress onman- 

•Glancing over a newspaper some two or three months ago, I perceived 
the name of our honorable and gallant representative linked to that of the 
river in question, (Guibara.) Of course I was on tiptoe to learn what 
plan he was about to adopt for the improvement of its wretched border- 
ers; but I soon found that his excursion to this wild region had a holier oh- 
ject— his was a plan for their spiritual welfare, by compelling them, at the 
head of a large body of military, to pay tithes into his own apostolic pocket. 

t Not long since, as 1 loitered in the shop of a Medical gentleman in a 
remote village of the sea-coast, a female applied for advice in a disease of 
the stomach. "It is the prevalent disease of the neighborhood' said the 
Doctor, and I cannot be of service except you change to abetter diet.' I 
could perceive the Irish blood rising as she retorted, "1 use as good diet 
asany one in our parish. The Doctor prepared some medicines. "Be- 
foie using these, said he, "take your breakfast of porridge and milk.— 

"Oh, Hierna! where would 1 get porridge and milk! there is not a peck 
of oat-meal within miles of where we live. And what good diet do you 
live upon, asked the Doctor, "Why, potatoes and (hesitatingly) sometimes 
a drop of milk, like our neighbors, was the reply. After she was gone, the 
Doctor informed me that vast numbers in i\e neighborhood were laboring 
under similar diseases arising from the same cause. And yet I saw their 
scantyj crop of grain being sold for export, at 6dto 7d 141b., and as that 
was insufficieht, their black cattle sold, some of them as cheap as eighteen 
shillings a -head, (things, the use of which Nature absolutely required to 
maintain them in health) to meet the wants of the Thirty Thousand a- 
Year Boys. 



36 

kind the momentous truth — That it is impossible to make a pe(h 
pie free and happy under the system of ^'absolute ownership ;^^ and 
that all that is badin our institutions , and degrading in our morals 
would rapidly disappear under the rational system,— Tni& system 

OF LIMITED OWNERSHIP OF LAND. 

I may be charged with an attempt to subvert "order." It so, 
I hurl the charge contemptuously on those who impiously coun- 
teract the beneficent designs of God and Nature. Established 
abuse lam bound to obey as long as it is established. But I 
am free to call the attention of the people to its injustice—to di- 
rect the electric shock of the public mind against its colossal 
and blood-cemented Bulwarks ; and, if that people rouse them- 
selves to a sense of their mighty wrong. I am free to give 
them a Second, making up in unconquerable zeal and inextin- 
guishable hatred of tyranny, the defects of limited abilities, and 
an incomplete education. 

I have, it is true, proposed a great and serious change; but 
who can prove to me that it is not as good as it is great, and as 
practicable is it is important. Many may think it too strong 
and sweeping a remedy for our social evils, but I call on them to 
point out any other remedy by which they can be radically cu- 
red Some change of the kind must take place, or monstrous 
as is the system now, it will in the lapse of time, become ten 
times more monstrous. Why, estates in this neighborhood 
which some thirty or forty years ago, were not worth seven 
thousand pounds annually , through the fertilizing improvements 
of the tenant are now worth thirty thousand a-year. And.though 
our Honorables will not expend a penny in enhancing the value 
of the soil, yet as soon as it is reclaimed, they honorably seize 
the whole benefit. The soil will go on improving, 'till in many 
districts it becomes ten times more valuable than it is now— 
this improvement willbe effected, (in Ireland at least,) asitever 
more has been, by the labor and capital of the tenant ; and if you 
leave absolute ownership unchecked, the minion who «ow? re- 
ceives thirty thousand a-year will then have three hundred thou- 
sand exiT&ciedfradulently from the toil and sweat of the peo- 
ple. 

Nay, they have actually invented a plan for compelling the 
tenant to improve the land for them under pain of utter star- 
vation. That hellish plan is expressed in a familiar adage, e- 
ternally in the mouths' of the Landlord and his subordinates, 
*^High rent is the best manure ever land got." Now, what is 
the plain English of this?— Here it is : the present quality or 
condition of the soil does not afford us, landlords, more than a 



37 

a certain portion of produce — now we will exact double that 
quantity of produce, and then the tenant must reclaim the 
land for us or starve with his family!! 

I would never close this pamphlet if I waited to embody in it 
a tenth of the wrongs and oppressions that crowd into my mind. 
The Earl of Gosford, too, "the best Landlord in Armagh,'* as 
somebody styled him — ("You're a sorry set when I'm the best 
of you.") — the Earl of Gosford could stand up at his Farming 
Society meeting, some four or five years ago, and make a long 
speech, to show that the Farmer ought to keep no horse to as- 
sist him in his labor, and concluded a patriotic harangue by fill- 
ing the goblet high " to spade labor ^ the poor man'' s bes/j^^ and he, 
might have added, last ''^resource " But Lord Gosford, or any 
other "Gos" among them, need not *4ay the unction to his 
souP' that such will be the poor man's last resource : They 
will find, to their cost, that he has other resources than stoop- 
ing his shoulders to the horse's labor, and bending the image of 
God under a burthen of dung. 

As the present wretchedness and the growing intelligence 
of the people, render a great and speedy change inevitable, 
what manner of change would be best, and what the best 
means of effecting it, becomes matter for the serious and instant 
consideration of the people. On the former question I have 
given my opinions at length: if the people agree with those 
opinions, the latter is of easy solution. An English or Irish 
newspaper will cost only four pence: every townland in the 
empire should take at least one weekly paper advocating the 
principles of limited ownership. This would give to such 
papers as would espouse the peopled cause a circulation which 
would enable them to command the first-rate talent of the em- 
pire. Association on association would follow, and ihdii great 
spirit whose waking start scared tyranny from the sin of intole- 
rance, and the filth of Rotten Boroughs, would spring into ac- 
tive and vigorous life, and establish, and regulate, the long 
trodden-down rights of mankind. 



38 



A WORD TO THE AMERICANS 

Should this Tract find its way to the Western World, I would 
tell its people that if they do not take means of prohibiting 
"Absolute Ownership" of land, their freedom and happiness — 
now the hope and refuge of the world — will silently and gra- 
dually sink and totally disappear beneath the conscienceless ra- 
pacity of landlords. It needs little perception to see that wher*^ 
an individual possesses uncontroled ownership of any given 
territory of ground, he can prescribe to its inhabitants whatever 
terms h\s will may dictate; or should they not accede to his 
dictation, he can lay waste the territory. That he w ill prescribe 
terms jihe most grinding and oppressive, and that he will use 
his power to the complete subversion of political freedom, we, 
Irishmen, have ample proof; and the Americans are not so ig- 
norant of our concerns as not to be perfectly aware of the n©- 
torious fact, and yet they throw open their free hills and chain- 
less riveis to the avidity of our reckless tyrants. The United 
States ceitainly contain an immense area; but let only two 
hundred or three hundred of our wealthiest capitalists bring 
their resources to bear on it for some twenty or thirty years, 
and I doubt not they would be able to purchase the entire terri- 
tory. If the American people do not guard against this con- 
tingency they will repent it when too late. They may solace 
themselves with the thought that their land is in the possession 
of settlers — men that will not part with it to their old tyrants. 
Why, these very '•'■tyrants^^ have already, considerable portions 
of it in their hands. There is Sir Edward Ellice, a member 
of our present Government, who has lately resigned office that 
he may pay a visit to his immense estates in Canada and the 
United States On the whole, we may be certain that capital- 
ists would meet with very little difficulty in purchasing, at 
least, half the new world, at a comparatively nominal price. 
But even should the entire country remain in the hands of the 
settlers, who now) detest tyranny, because lately enfranchised 
from its gripe — such is the worthless selfishness of man, that 
these very settlers will degenerate into a vile aristocracy, and 
grind and trample down a future tenantry. The sole cause of 
American freedom is, that the energies of her people, and her 
political influence, is not under the dominion of landlords. So 
long as land can be easily purchased by the in-coming emigrant, 
all will go on well ; but when it comes to be rented from the 
'* absolute owner^^^ farewell to the plenty and happiness, and 



39 



freedom of the New World, and welcome the rampant tyran< 
iiY_the slavery and wretchedness of the Old. 

And will the men of America— those free spirits that quit- 
ted indignantly, and forever, the lands ^f the tyrant-will 
thev tamely stand to see a similar tyranny established in the land 
of their adoption ? Or will the descendants of those heroes 
that fought and bled, and died, to save their country from the 
pollution of the oppressor, permit a domestic oligarchy to grow 
UP and gorge upon the vitals of that country ? Why, to borrow 
a simile from their own great land, it would be destroying a den 
of snakes at the peril and loss of Ufe and limb ; and afterwards 
suffering a nest of these same reptiles to breed inside ot 
the house, and sting to death themselves and their children.— 
Before such a moment airives, their Montgomerys and Wash- 
ingtons will burst their cerements— again stand before the peo- 
ple, and once more wave the sword of chastising Justice. Let 
them look to this : it is often thousand times more importance 
than their railways, their steamers, and their commerce. With- 
out the rational and divine regulation, the advantage of all their 
resources and capabities will ultimately centre in the landlords 
tiocket The principle of Limited Ownership, as it is the on- 
ly remedy for the complicated evils of the "Old World" so is 
it the only preventative against the same deadly evils which 
are fast coming on the "New." 



END OF THE ORIGINAL PAMPHET. 



APPENDIX 

TO THE AMERICAN EDITION. 



Glance at the History of Land Monopoly in the British 
Islands. Rise and Progress of Feudal Oppression 
in this Republic. An Examination into the jnerits of 
the Controversy between Stephen Van Rennsellaer and 
the Helderberg Farmers. 

The preceding sheets contain the views and impressions pro- 
duced on my mind b}'^ a contemplation of the state of Ireland 
in 1835. Let us now briefly examine the state of England as I 
left it in 1840. 

Most of my readers are, doubtless, aware that all the soil of 
England at one time belonged to all the people of England — that 
each individual cultivated his own field in perfect independence 
— enjoying the fruits of his own labor, and surrounded by that 
peace and plenty which a rural life is so pre-eminently calcu- 
lated to bestow. The public robbers who rose up in the land 
were the first to break in upon this equitable and harmonious 
arrangement. From mere fugitive nocturnal marauders, these 
robbers soon built themselves strongholds — encased their limbs 
in mail, and banded together in bodies laid the peaceful cultiva- 
tors of the soil under contribution: — First by foraying (plun- 
dering) their fields, afterward by a yearly payment for ''Protec- 
tion" This evil attained some magnitude under the Saxon 
dynasty ; but when that National Highwayman, William of 
Normandy, came over and conquered the country, the right of 
Allodial proprietorship was wholly abrogated — and to this day 
there does not exist a lease or deed of property, but must contain 
a consideration of rent, to be given to some lordly proprietor — 
otherwise the deed is a nullity in the eye of the law. 

About six months before I was forced to quit England I pub- 
lished a Tract entitled "The State of the Question." It was a 
compilation from the various extant histories of England so far 
as these threw light on the barbarous and inhuman conduct of 
the Norman Barons — Their selling the tenants like herds of cat- 
tle, with the estate ; the murder of those tenants by order of 



41 

the Baron, and inferior landholders ; the long generations that 
passed over our hapless fathers, during which no ray of freedom, 
or of hope, broke in upon them — the successful labors of the 
Catholic Clergy in breaking up this hideous system of vassalage ; 
the change in Society which followed the liberation of the Ten- 
ants, whilst the landlords still held monopoly of all the soil ; the 
refuge provided for the destitute in the Religious establish- 
ments ; the suppression of those establishments, and the con- 
fiscation of their property among the rapacious parasites of 
Henry VIII; the uouseless destitution of the poor consequen- 
thereon; the Sturdy Beggars — war between them and the got 
vernment^ during the latter part of Henry's reign and the reigns 
of his two successors, Edward and Mary; success of the Stur- 
•dy Beggars and their triumph over the craven aristocracy sig- 
nalized by the passage of the 43d of Elizabeth; comparative 
comfort of the English Poor, and indeed people generally, un- 
der that famous law; commencement of the National Debt un- 
der Orange William ; history of the National Debt up to the 
close of the French war. Doubling of that enormous debt by 
Peel's money bill in 1819 ; PROPERTY released from taxation 
at the close of the war — and the burthens continued upon LA- 
BOR ; the Reform Bill, a mere widening & strengthening of the 
Oli^'archy ; the manufacturing, and commercial classes when 
vested with the elective franchise — their abject servility to the 
aristocracy and the crown,their inhumanity to the workingpeople 
— the unnatural doctrines of the infamous Malthus — the horri- 
ble proposal of Marcus the Child-Murderer — the Repeal of the 
famous PoorLaw of Elizabeth, and the formal denial of man's 
right to be supported from the soil. All these are treated in 
the Tract to which 1 have alluded, and which was reprinted in 
Manchester since my departure from England, after my first 
edition of six thousand copies was exhausted. 

In the record of history which this little work presents, one 
principle stands forth as the great Breakwater of Aristocracy 
— the irresistable crusher of man's rights. That principle, need 
1 name it, is Monopoly of the Soil. So great was the power 
conferred by this monopoly that the Duke of Norfolk, by means 
of his estates sent seven members to the House of Commons, 
whilst himself, being a Catholic^ could not hold a seat in Par 
liament at all. 

This monopoly of the soil not only gave them land, waters, 
mines, minerals, upperwood, underwood, fish, game, and all 
"Royalties"— a word which comprised every thing in the 
^'Heavens above, in the eaith beneath, and in the waters under 



42 

the earth* — not only did monopoly of the soil give them all this, 
but it gave them supreme control in the Halls of legislation, 
and enabled them to turn the people into one vast "gang" 
of Slaves, if not the most debased, certainly the most projUable 
Slaves that ever existed on the face of this whole earth 

Like the children of Israel, when compelled to make bricks 
without any allowance of straw, the people of England are 
thrown upon "their own resources" to get employment where 
they can, to get what wages they can. This wages will ave- 
rage, perhaps, two dollars in the week, for full grown men. — 
But whatever it may average, the tyrants of the soil do not trou- 
ble themselves to inquire. All they say is "you shall not touch 
a human necessary until you have paid us three times the 
value for it" They have turned the nation into one vast huckster 
store, where they charge prices after the following fashion : 

For two pounds of brown Sugar 37^ cents. 

For half a pound of Coffee 25 

For three pounds of beef or mutton 50 

For ten pounds of flour 60 

And For all other necessaries in proportion. Thus they put in 
motion a taxing machine, that extorts two thirds of its earnings 
from the famishing hands of labor. In addition to seiziligupon 
the whole soil they will not, literally, permit the laborer to touch 
a morsel of food, till he has paid them two thirds of his wages 
for their permission to do so ! 

Out of this mighty extortion, is paid an Army of bayonets to 
coer-ce the people, and perpetuate the unspeakable wiong. This 
army is the mainspring of the machinery, and the whole cost 
of the extorting machine may be about ten millions sterling an- 
nually, the balance, forty two millions a year, is used up by the 
aristocracy, in the shape of enormous salaries, sinecure places, 
pensions, half pays, and an endless multitude of the most open 
and barefaced corruptions that ever shamed the light of Hea- 
ven. I may just mention that there are two hundred Admirals 
nine hundred Post Captains, and eleven, or twelve, hundred 
commanders of their fleet — fellows that never were '^afloat" 
but eat up the taxes in the shape of half pay and perquisites. — 
Ihe number of Generals, Colonels, Majors and Captains of the 
army bear like proportion — blades who do no duty except 
swallow up their share of the taxes, and, as the Scotchman 
says, "glower for more." 

All this, be it remembered is exclusive of the landrents, and 
the produce of mines, lead, coal, and iron, which amount to an 
enormous sum and is swallowed up by the all-devouring aristo- 



43 

cracy. It is exclusive also of the tax levied by the Corn La\r 
— a tax exceeding in amount the entire revenue of the British 
Nation, and all this, be it remembered, springs, directly and im- 
mediately, from the monopoly of the soil, which carries with it 
also monopoly of Legislation. Such a state of things might 
well warn us in this Republic from opening a door by whick 
the overshadowing r^vil could get in among us. 

The door is open, however, the evil is among us. In the 
multitude of business they had to transact — in the chaos which 
they had to breathe upon, and convert into 'order,' it is not in the 
least strange that the Fathers of our Revolution should leave 
something unheeded — some evils untouched, if not unobserved, 
to be corrected by the Reforming hand of their posterity. 

The greatest, beyond all comparison, of these evils is Land 
Monopoly. It had not in the days of the Revolutionary sages, 
nor has it yet, grown up into a great practical evil. But it is in- 
creasmg its growth silently and steadily. The Public Lands 
are rapidily passing into the hands of private individuals. — 
Those lands will be exhausted sooner or later — I care not for the 
question of time. Individuals will hold, and ov'n them, every 
acre No pre-emption rights then. No resource, only apply 
to the monopolist an^' before entering upon his property^ sub- 
scribe to whatever terms the will of a monopolist may dictate. 
Then grows up, unchecked, and unquestioned a landed Oligar- 
chy, striking deeper, wider, and more poisonous root over the 
Republic in each succeeding year ! 

But here we are met by the great popular error — namely ; 
"That we must not restrict the liberty of the Citizen — that 
every individual must be free to accumulate as much as he 
pleases, and to restrict this freedom would be tyranny." 

Now there is a speciousness about this argument which ren- 
ders ii dangerous. There is just as much truth in it as gives 
currency to what is false. Men have an indefeasible right to 
accumulate all that is necessary for their rational enjoyments & 
no more. In such a way, too, and under such limitations, that 
their doing so shall not inflict any injury on society at large. Such 
is the limitation set to our personal liberty — we may be cun- 
ning to cheat, we may be strong to overpower, and deprive our 
neighbors of their property ; but the law will not permit us to 
exercise those talents ; it "restricts our liberty" in these mat- 
ters ; and yet I believe few will call it "tyranny" except, per- 
haps, the denizens of our Police-offices, and Prisons. 

But to permit men to accumulate unbounded ownership of 
the soil is immeasurably more unjust, and impolitic, than even 



44 

to give them a license to prey upon society as mc^irirfwa/ thieves, 
lu the latter case men would be prepared to defend their rights, 
and would be just as able to protect their property as the thieves 
would be to attack it — but when 3'ou allow an individual to 
"crowney " a whole territory of land, he can plunder the en- 
tire population residing on it, with more ease and safety than a 
commoi) thief could rob a solitary hen-roost. In fact your land 
Monopolist has nothing to do but sit at bis ease — the law first 
sanctions his impudent claim, and then proceeds to levy, and take 
away the property of the people for his use and bene- 
fit. With the moral and intellectual slaves who follow 
blindfold in the track of barbarous Europe it would be idle to 
reason in this matter. Those will raise a senseless howl about 
the inviolability of ''property." And yet those very men, with 
all their sensibility are, in reality, the violators of, and tramp- 
lers on, the rights of property — the defenders and champions of 
rapine and public theft. 

Who owns the soil ? who is its Head Landlord ? who has a 
right to give it to another } Come — come, — there is no use in 
attempting to impose the nursery tale that a trafficking Compa- 
ny, or an insolent Monarch who never did anything useful, had 
aright to dispose of immeasureable territories of land, which 
they never so much as set their foot upon. There may be 
found men in this Republic besotted enough to believe such 
doctrine ,but men capable of believing such stuff as this 
are too low in the scale of intelligence to deserve serious notice. 

Just as absurd and preposterous is the notion, that the native 
tribes can convey ownership of the soil. The poor Indian has 
a right to glean a sustenance from the bunting field, but it is ex- 
tremely childish to suppose that he has a title in the soil, 
stretching beyond his own lifetime, and extending beyond his own 
wants. Before I admit that the Indian can convey an absolute 
and unending ownership of the soil, it must first be shown 
to me that he is in possession of such ownership himself 

So also it is with any body of Legislators. Men are born to 
the inheritance of Freedom— ail men are free by nature — Ame- 
ricans are free, both by nature and by their Governmental Insti- 
tutions. Now, free and independent use of the soil is the first ele- 
ment of the freedom and independenceof any people. So long- 
as men are hungry the3'^ must eat, whatever price is paid for the 
victuals. Nothing produces stuff fit to eat but the soil — and 
when a few monopolists have got hold of the soil, they hold in 
their hands the power of life and death. This world is theirs, 
and if you do not subscribe to their conditions there is no room 



45 

or you upon it. Yes, let the landed aristocracy of Britain ex- 
ert their authority at this moment, let them push that authori- 
ty to the full extent, and they could push, off the British Is- 
lands and into the sea, every man, woman, and child which 
those Islands contain The land belongs to the aristocracy, and 
the rest of the population are, in the eye of the law, one vast 
crowd of TRESPASSERS. 

Such is the theory of the beautiful sj^stem, and what is its 
practise ? It is true they have not as yet enforced their autho- 
rity, and turned the population into the sea in order to turn the 
Islands into one boundless hunting ground. They have not 
gone to work on a scale quite so large but they have 
done "considerable" in a small way. A specimen of which it 
might be as well to introduce here. 

We all remember, or have read, something about "Catholic 
Emancipation " in 'Great' Britain. We all know that by its 
operation a few Catholic JSIoblemen got into the House of Lords 
and a handful of Catholic lawyers got into the House of Com- 
mons. Th?s we know, because this fact — this "emancipation" 
was trumpeted to the wide world, as the mightiest achievement 
of modern times. But we do not know much about the price 
that was paid for "emancipation." We do not know that the 
Forty Shilling Freeholders of Ireland were disfranchised, as 
the price of Catholic Emancipation. We do not know that tens 
of thousands of those poor men were thrown out of their small 
farms, and even out of their houses, in the depth of winter. — 
We do not know that hundreds of them perished in the ditch 
sides where they had endeavored to construct rude sheds to 
keep out a portion of the winter tempest. We do not know 
that those who succeeded in begging their way to Scotland to 
seek labor-work, only went to leave their bones in a strange 
land, where thousands of them miserably perished. We do 
not know that those miserable men were doomed to death be- 
cause they could no longer assist their landlord to manufacture 
members of Parliament. We do not know that their small tields 
were given to Ten Pound Freeholders, those being privileged 
to vote for M. P's. We do not know that one seat in Parlia- 
ment has been, thus, purchased with the death of a thousand 
human beings. But it is time that we knew all those things, 
and that we would learn something from them. First — to esti- 
mate Catholic Emancipation at its true worth — and secondly 
to swear upon the book of God, that a beastly, murdering, land- 
ed Oligarchy shall have no place in This country. 

If we do our children, hereafter, will not be permitted to tiU 



46 

a field, or touch a morsel of food without first subsciibing to 
whatever conditions the "lords of the soil" may choose to dic- 
tate. 

And what will be those conditions? Go ask the famished, 
heart-broken people of Europe. 

But many, very many men indeed, in this country believe 
that it never can come to this in America. They have three, 
safeguards against the evil, and on those safeguards they impli- 
citly rely. One of these is our vast extent of territory— ano- 
ther is the intelligence and free spirit of our people ; and the third 
is the fortunate absence of all laws of primogeniture and entail. 
These are the three barricades which are to keep out the de- 
solation, and make this country, what no other country has ever 
been, free from the curse of a landed oligarchy. 
Now let us examine these three positions in detail. 
Extent of territory — will afford a qualified protection until the 
public lands shall have merged into private ownership. How 
long is that likely to be ? 

The whole of the public lands may be estimated at twelve 
hundred millions of acres ; their sale at present is not very ra- 
pid, perhaps three millions of acres a year. This, hov^ever, is 
owing to the re-action of 1836 '7. Jn these two years the 
quantity sold was forty millions of acres, making the ratio of 
twenty millions a year. Now, putting these two facts together, 
they warrant us in fixing the annual sales at about eight millions 
of acres, on an average of ten years say fiom 1837 to 1847. 

Our population is now five times as numerous as it was sixty 
years ago. Sixty years hence it will be at least three times as 
numerous as it is now ; it is nol necessary I believe to waste time 
in proving that land sales will increase in proportion to the m- 
crease of our population — the more mouths the larger the market. 
Atthis rate, sixty years hence, the public land sales will be 
tweny-five millions of acres per year. Count that up and see 
how long it will be swallowing up the public lands. 

But there are other causes in operation that will precipitate 
the monopoly of those lands with a rapidity much beyond the 
calculation just made. Up to the present time most of the hea- 
vy speculators went to the wild tribes and made contracts with 
them for millions of acres. Thus large portions of the soil has 
come into the hands of Monopolists without appearing on the 
record of the Government Sales. This channel for speculation 
is now pretty much closed up; so that in future the heavy spe- 
culators will have to buy of the government, thereby vastly in- 
creasing the public sales. 



47 

Nor may it be overlooked that if impunity is given to bound- 
less monopoly of land, and if our present tendency to luxury, 
and aristocratic society be suffered to go on unrebuked, this 
country will become a not undesirable residence for the young- 
er limbs of aristocratic families in Europe. In that country the 
eldest son gets the estate, and on him is thrown the onus of 
providing for the younger branches. This has been done by 
quartering them upon the taxes, but their numbers are increa- 
sing, and taxes are diminishing, and the people are becoming, 
every year, more and more unmanageable. These younger 
branches, therefore, are likely to have more difficulty than usual 
in getting along ; so that it would be no bad speculation for them 
to put half a years rent ot an estate in their pocket (one or two 
hundred thousand dollars) come here and buy land for it, and 
settle it down with a Tenantry which our increased popula- 
tion would readily supply, or which could be readily supplied 
from Europe. 

Those causes are every one in operation. Let the leader 
combine them himself and calculate the time in which our pub- 
lic lands are destined to become private property. For my own 
part I am satisfied that, if not checked by the foresight of the 
people, every acre of land in this Republic will be the property 
of private individuals within one century from the present date, 
and more probably in one half that time. Then for a commence- 
ment of aristocratic power and domination. 

But oh, we hare a brave and intelligent people that will never 
permit things to come to that pass. How are they going to help 
it — in what maner are they going to work.? Are they braver 
than the Republicans of Rome who, victorious everywhere, 
they turned their arms, were yet utterly beaten and put down 
by the swords of their own aristocracy.* Are they intelligent? 
How will their intelligence set aside the "rights of property" 
when it has established itself in the land. When ninetenths ot the 
public press — the entire pulpit, and all the wealth and 'respec- 
tability' of the Republic Will be arrayed in its defence. How 
will the intelligence of the people overturn ihe evil then, if they 
have not the intelligence to perendt now. Then the cure can 
only be effected by upturning established things, by taking from 
men those lands that many will suppose rightfully their own, 
and which the law of the country, withal, shall have guaran- 
tied to them. 

No ! If it is permitted to reach that point, itwill be extreme- 
ly difficult, if not wholly impossible, to apply a remedy* We 

• Videhistory of the two Gracchii* 



48 

are already in the current — it is drawing us steadily to the brow 
of the cataract, every moment we remain supine adds to our 
danger. Now we can save ourselves with ease, but let us wait 
let us get into the headlong vortex before we stretch to our oars 
and we will go down to destruction — a destruction which we 
shall have wilfully rushed on with our eyes open looking at it. 
So much for the extent, or "inexhaustibility" of our soil. 

The next subject that demands our attention, is the absence 
of a primogeniture and entail law. This it is believed is the 
greatest safeguard we have against the growth of an aristocracy. 

To me it appears tliat it is a very slender safeguard indeed. 
Even now a man may w;i//his property to his eldest son, if he 
pleases, and if he does not do so, it is because there is not a 
motive sufficiently st^ ^ng to induce him to take that course. 

But if, when the Landlord and Tenant system be generally 
established, it should be found that land property brought with 
it political influence — if tenants should happen hereafter to lent 
land with the understanding that their votes should be given 
to their landlord — if in this manner the Landlord's political 
weight would be, as it is now all over Europe, in exact propor- 
tion to the number of his acres — then we will discover a mo- 
tive why the whole property should be bequeathed to the eldest 
son. In that case, he could use the political influence it would 
bring for the purpose of quartering the younger branches on the 
public purse, precisely as it is now in France and England. Na- 
vy, Army, Diplomacy and all manner of civil offices wov ■ » of- 
fer a pretty fair field for them and as the landlords would (thro' 
their tenants) have the control of legislation, all these places 
would be reserved for their gift. Thus we see, that if the dying 
father would turn his estate to the best advantage he would be- 
queath it all to one child, and he in return could provide for the 
remainder — not out of the estate, but out of the public taxes. 

Many men hold that it is one characterestic of the aristocray 
to take every means within their reach to strengthen their po- 
wer and render it independent of popular control. This appears 
to be a pretty well founded opinion, it is at least borne out by the 
example of history. Now if the aristocracy of this country 
should happen to be true to this instinct, what security have 
we that they will not pass laws of prin\ogeniture and entail, as 
the British aristocracy have done/ In England, this was done in 
order that the family influence should be preserved. Will not 
the same motive exist here ? 

They have studied the history of nations to little purpose 
who do not know that however flow maybe the encroachments 
of power, it is al way j steady, unremitting, and retentive. What- 



49 

ever it gets, it is pretty sure to keep, unless it is wrenched 
from its band in a violent struggle. Even in those struggles 
established power is^ generally speaking, found to be the strong- 
est. And the efforts of men to regain what their supineoess 
has lost, often serves only to increase their wrongs and precipi- 
tate their final enslavement. 

While we are safe let us keep ourselves so. Once into the 
toils it is by no means an easy matter to get out. Of this the 
Old World aftords a mighty example. Of this, too, a singular 
and striking example is furnished nearer home. 

IVearly about the centre of this State lies an extensive tract 
of land known by the name of the Helderberg. This is an 
elevated, health}^, and pleasant region l^'ing on each side ot the 
Hudson River, some twenty mil'^.s west of Albany. Its area is 
twenty four miles square, or 576 square miles. 

About the year 1630 the Dutch West India Company became 
famous on the seas for a species of piracy. In one year they 
plundered the Spaniards and Portuguese of more than one 
hundred vessels laden with rich merchandize, and gold and sil- 
ver. With a part of this money — so obtained— the Company 
bought from the Government of Holland jurisdiction over 
much land in this country, which did not at all belong to the 
said Government of Holland. 

The Company, being invested with this very questionable au- 
thority, proceeded to send out agents (whom it was their good 
pleasure to dub Patroons) to form Colonies. On these Patroons 
was conferred both the "supreme control and inferior jurisdic- 
tions". Hereditary Governors they and their offspring were to 
be, with the sole right of appointing all sheriffs, constables j and so 
forth — the Company, or the Patroon, never dreaming about any 
such things as Republicanism and Universal Suffrage. These 
lands, and waters and all, were to continue the Patroons ^eternal 
heritage'. No man might squat upon any part of them without 
becoming a dependant of the Patroon; and'none but the'Patroon 
and his licentiates' were permitted to ftither HUNT or FISH 
on the land, or waters. Indeed the terms of the Charter, grant- 
ed to them(the Patroons aforesaid) show that it was not intend- 
ed to people those colonies with freemen at all, but with the serfs 
of the Patroon. The 10th section provides, "That the service of 
the Colonists, or servants of the Patroon, should be assured 
them ; due care being taken to compel their service according to 
their contracts." 

In pursuance of this authority, the Patroons came over from 
Holland, and possessed themselves of immense tracts, chiefly 



60 

upon the Hudson. But even in those early times, and even by 
the privateering Company aforementioned, the evil and impoli- 
cy of these vast appropriations was seen, and according to Moul- 
ton, their ratification seems to have been obtained only by ad- 
mitting other directors to participate in them. (i. e.) The *other 
directors' sanctioned the plunder upon the express condition of 
getting a share of the spoils. 

My limits don't admit, nor is it necessary, to trace the career 
of the Patroon and his servants or serfs from the above period 
to the present time. It is enongh to know that the Represen- 
tative of old Killian Van Rennsellaer, the Heer Pauw, is at this 
day in possession of the large territories " crowneyed" bj' his 
unpronounceable ancestor. 

The spirit that settled down upon this country in '76, and 
which gave birth to our incompa.'^able institutions, has slightly 
affected the prerogatives of the Heer Pauw of the present day : 
For instance, he has lost the hereditary office of Chief Magis- 
trate, and also the power of appointing 'all Magistrates and of- 
ficers within his jurisdiction'. 1 presume, too, that he has lost 
the exclusive right of hunting and fishing, as on a late visit to 
that partoi the world I saw the young men going out to fowl 
and hunt, just as if every one of them was a Heer Pauw himself. 
Those prerogatives the Patroon has lost ; but there are others 
no less odious which he still retains, chiefly I pr*».sume because 
the attention of the people has not been sufficiently directed to 
their enormity. 

The first of these is an exclusive ownership of all mines and 
minerals (British Fashion)in this vast region; also *'all kills, 
creeks, streams, and runs of water." And the exclusive right 
of erecting "mills, mill-dams, and houses, and taking whatever 
ground he may desire for the purpose of working all mines and 
minerals. And also all such firewood and timber as he may 
want. And also the right to lay out as many roads as he plea- 
ses, merely deducting a bushelof wheat from the rent, in consi- 
deration of every 16 acres he may so use and occupy ' 

In this reservation we percieve not merely the spirit of insul- 
ting feudalism, but the vey language used is a literal copy of 
the British leases. By this, clause all tenants are prohibited 
from constructing a mill or any machine, to be set in motion by 
water power, for any purpose whatever. They may have skill 
and enterprise sufficient to make water power subservient to 
their comfort and civilization, but the Patroon will not suffer 
them to makp any advance of the kind They have their choice 
to grind up their bread stuffs with the hand, or to carry their 



51 

grain as sucken* to the mills of Heer Pauw Junior I Such has 
ever been the spirit of tyranny — so has it ever hung a drag-chain 
on the progress of civilization! 

The next reservation vs^hich this very modest gentleman, Ste- 
phen Van Rennsellaer, has secured to himself is termed the 
Quarter sales. This reserve secures to him one quaiter of the 
entire puchase money of a farm every time it happens to change 
hands. Nor is this ail. If Mr. Van Rennsellaer chooses to 
take the farm to himself, he can do so at a price one fourth less 
than it has been sold for. This clause opens a door through which, 
in time, the title of the farmers can be easily extinguished, and 
the unlimited ownership of the Patroons established over the 
whole property. 

In this reservation, too, we see the spirit of British feudalism 
in its most barbarous days. Haliam informs us that when a ten. 
ant demised, the Baron (or British Patroon) seized upon the es- 
tate, and would not return it to his family until they paid him a 
large sum of money, which was called "Relief" With what 
faithfulness does our lord of the soil in this country follow the 
copy set before him by his illustrious prototypes ! 

And in those times of darkness the feudal Baron compelled 
his -villains' (that was the name he gave them) to do all man- 
ner of drudgery about his castle. This is, of course followed 
by Van Rennsellaer. Every tenant is compelled to come with his 
team and wagon, and do any kind of drudgery he is ordered to do 
by his lord and master ! 

It is well known that the feudal barons, though in their in- 
cipient rise they plundered henroosts for a living), as they 
waxed in power and greatness in the land, compelled the 
farmer to bring in bullocks, sheep, fowls, pigs, and all that man- 
ner of stuff to cover the baron's great Hall table. These, how- 
ever, the farmer was generally invited to partake of; so that al- 
though he was compelled to bring in his property and lay it at 
the feet of the freebooting lord, yet was he permitted to take 
pot luck along with the rest of the retainers : the lord himself 
presiding at the head of the table. This example, thus laid 
down by the feudal barons, was too valuable to be lost sight of 
by our modern Heer Pauw — the tenants, therefore, are compel- 
led to shoulder a bundle of ducks, and deposit them periodically 
at the door of the Mansion House of the American Baron — or 
at such spot 'within a mile of the Mansion House' as may be 
designated by the lord Patroon. One part of the example has, 

*For iucken, ita definition, see Hab Miller in Scotts Monastery 



52 

however by all accounts, been forgotten by our Republican 'lord 
of the soil." He seem to inherit all the greed, without any of 
the generosity of the old feudal plunderers : He does not, so far 
as we are aware, invite the Republican serfs in, to take a share 
of the hens and ducks — he merely "designates" a spot for them 
to deposit the tribute — and that done, they have his instructions 
to retire to their homes till such time as he wants them again to 
carry in fowls, or do his menial drudgery. 

There is a vague impression abroad that the tenants refuse to 
pay rent, and are determined to hold themselves wholly in- 
dependent of Mr Van Rennsellaer. This is untrue. What 
the tenants object to are the menial drudgery — the tribute of 
ducks — the 'Quarters' Sales,' and the 'reservation' of all mines, 
and the monopoly of all water power. They object to these 
not merely because they are burthensome, but also because 
they are insulting — not merely because they are degrading to 
the farmers themselves, but also because they are a reproach to 
the American Nation. The stipulated wheat rent they agree 
to pay according to the original contract made when ihey enter- 
ed upon the lands. In that contract the odious conditions had 
no place, but were, it appears, engrafted upon it afterward when 
the Patroon had got the settlers under restraint, when their la- 
bor and capital were expended on the soil — and when they had 
no alternative save to submit to his dictation or lose all they 
were worth in the world. 

I take the following extract from a communication which ap- 
peared some time ago in the Helderberg Advocate, Signed, "E 
QUAL Rights" It is written in all the simplicity of truth, and 
bears internal evidence of fairness. 

"In the first settlement of the West part of the Manor now 
claimed by Van Rennsellar, the settlers after a few years, hear- 
ing that it was claimed bo the Patroon some of them went to 
ascertain the fact. When they informed him where they had 
settled, he said they were not on his lands, his grant extending 
but twelve miles West from the Hudson River But after a few 
years finding no one claimed it, he agreeable with the history 
given by Mr. Bernard took advantage of the grant which exten- 
ded but eight miles back from the rivei and claimed territory 
of twenty-four miles square on both sides of the river. No 
one opposed his claim, he had control of both civil and military 
power at that time and the settlers were too few to resist, know- 
ing it would be useless to contend with him in law for thei? 
right and consequently submitted to him as their liege Lord.— 



63 

Application was then made to him for the privilege of settle- 
ment and he being anxious to confirm his title by leasing the 
lands, made fair and generous proposals, as they then thought, 
telling them to go and select such pieces as they wished to oc- 
cupy, mark the trees around their lot, go and occupy the premi- 
ses seven years free from rent, and after that term of years they 
were to have a lease for a moderate wheat rent annually. Wheat 
was then worth from fifty to sixty cents per bushel, and they 
were to pay Dut five shillings for the lease, yet when they took 
them they were charged ten dollars. Not knowing the degra- 
ding conditions and restrictions those leases were to contain, they 
thought the terms favorable. The followed the Indian's paths 
into the wilderness, and choosing the lots commenced their la- 
bors falling the trees, erecting a hut of logs for a dwelling they 
persevered though laboring under all the privations to which new 
countries are subject. 

In seven years many had made large improvements, erected 
comfortable buildings and were anxious to get their leases, but 
when they were presented and found to contain all those cursed 
reservations and restrictions ^ finding that one fourth and in some 
instances one third of their labor was claimed by the landlord, 
they refused to take them saying they were not such leases sa he 
had agreed to give them. They were told by his agent that 
some things were put in merely to make out a form to fill up 
the lease and would never be exacted. Some wished to have 
the price of wheat fixed so that if the land should fail to produce 
wheat he could not take advantage of the price. They were 
assured by the agent that should the land fail to grow wheat 
they would never be charged over seven or eight shillings per bushel 
and if they would not accept of the lease on these conditions 
they might leave the premises. The leases with all their un- 
just and degrading conditions were presente^l, the settlers shud- 
dered at the thought of binding themselves and posterity, slaves 
to a tyrant, but on the other hand they had spent seven years 
of incessant toil in improving the premises — they were sur- 
rounded by growing families dependent on them for support — 
their home, their all, that made life dear to them, must either 
be lost and ruined, or they must take the lease. 

The thought of again enduring all the privations incident to 
another settlement in the wilderness was too much, and strange 
as it may seem they accepted the leases. Others took them 
not knowing the degrading conditions until about three year 
ago. There is yet left among us a sufficient number of the first set 
tiers to prove a number of the facts here stated For a few years 



54 

while clearing away the forest, the land produced a fair yield 
of wheat, and the farmers bore the burthen with patience, the 
other reservations and restriciions not being enforced . 

.^s soon as they had cleared up their farms, the land would 
produce no more wheat, and then we should think there was 
in justice and equity a failure of the contract on the part of the 
landlord. But instead of doing as he had agreed, to charge no 
more than seven or eight shillmgs a bushel at most for wheat, 
he immediately took advantage of the ncessity of the tenants 
and he resorted to the most selfish and unfair practise of pur- 
chasing a few loads of wheat at an advanced price ^ when the rent 
became due, of from one to two shillings a bushel above the mer- 
he to fix a price for his rent. 

Some years they have paid three times the amount of what 
their rent would have been had he performed what he promised 
them when they took their leases, and twenty shillings for the 
days service and fowls to boot. The whole rent on a lot of 
160 acres far forty five years with the interest at seven percent 
will make the enormous sum of $3 845 profit to the landlord, 
not including quarter sales ; rent for water power &c. The 
rent for the same time at seven shilling a bushel with the same 
rate of interest would amount to 1 753, showing a difference of 
$2,092 which sum has been taken from the poor tenant contra- 
ry to a fair verbal agreement. This sum would now pay thir- 
teen dollars per acre for a lot of 160 acres, and lands adjoining 
this Patent could be purchased for fifty cents per acre at the- 
time these leases were given. 

*'Thus we see taking the west half the manor they have con- 
tributed the immense sum of ^$4,429,440 which was paid to the 
landlords, $2,409, 884 of which, has, contrary to all right and 
justice and in opposition to the laws of both God and man, been 
extorted from the tenants. If he had distributed any part of 
this largf sum on the patent in erecting mills or factories, as he 
only had a right, for the convenience of the tenants we should 
not have so much reason to complain. Instead of pursuing this 
reasonable course, he has expended large sums, drawn from us, 
in the purchase of LARGE TRACTS OF LAND in other 
parts of the state, and in Building lots in the cities and no doubt 
has often flattered himself that he should soon be Lord of the 
State or that his children would all become rich Land Barons. 

And, describing the first resistance of the "Tenantry", the 
writer proceeds. 

*^The landlord understanding the course we had determined 



55 

to pursue, directed to the Chairman of our Committee a letter 
requesting us to appoint a number of our citizens as a Com- 
mittee 10 wait on him at an appointed time at his office and he 
would make such proposals as would satisfy the tenants. Anx- 
ious for a settlement of the difficulties on fair and honorable 
teims, they immediately called meetings in the difFer^nt towns 
and selected from each, five of their most worthy and upright 
citizens to call on the landlord agreeably to his request. They 
called at the time appointed b}'^ him at his office, His Lordship 
was not in and the agent sent for him. The Committee not be- 
ing offered a seat, each selected for himself, there being but two 
or three chairs in the room, some occupied the window sills, 
some the stove, others lower seats, and we believe when his 
Lordship entered they were all seated. He passed through the 
room without paying the least attention to the Committee, into 
the back part of the office, where several minions were in ses- 
sion. After a short stay, he returned in the same haughty style, 
walked to the end of the office, and seated himself on the steps 
casting an indignant and scornful glance on the Committee, as 
much to say serfs, you are beneath my notice." 

JSow just pause and contemplate the picture here presented. 
vSee the simple honest hearted citizen toiling thro' long years of 
difficulty and privation. Hoping to reclim a home that will make 
this evening of life comfortable and provide for the little ones 
that are growing up around him. And then figure to yoursel 
fhePatroou swilling his wine, lolling on his cushions, — 
riding about in his barouche — reposing himself upon the lap of 
ease and luxury, and preparing his "leases" by which to cheat 
and enslave men every way better than himself 

It is not denied that the actual position of the Helderberg far- 
mers is a disgraceful one—insulting not merely to themselves but 
the majesty of the American People. Everybody that I have 
conversed with, admits this ; but then, say they, it is a contract 
between man and man, and the federal Constitution forbids the 
States to pass any laws impairing the obligations of contracts." 

It is not my purpose to vvaste time in discussing the question 
of law. I might say something about the original contract made 
betwenthe Patroon and the settlers, when the farmers were yet 
free. I might affirm that the second bargain possessed no quali- 
ty of a contract as the assent of the people was a mere submission 
to save themselvesfrombeing plundered of ail the toil and capi- 
tal that they expended on the farms. I might show that even 
an oath taken under compulsion is not binding either in morali- 
ty or law, I might maintain that if 1 sold myself into slavery and 



56 

received the price of my freedom, the state would 'impair* and set 
aside, the 'conract' J might maintain that thousand of contracts 
have been impaired by the emancipalfon of slaves in this State 
and by the taking of private property (real estate too) for pub- 
lic use. These arguments, and others of equal force, could be 
brought to demolish even the technical ground upon which, 
and upon which alone, rests the insulting pretensions of the Pa- 
troon. But I do not descend to the field of legal technicalities. 
I stand upon the high ground of Man's Birthright. I take in 
my hand that Law of Nature and Nature's God, which is the 
Constitution upon which all human laws must be founded or 
else ihey are no laws at all. I affirm that those lands claimed 
by Rennsellaer do not belong to him any more, but far less, than 
to the lowliest hind that furrows their soil. The law of Nature 
which is, as I said before, the Constitutional law of society, de- 
fine clearly enough the just title of the Patroon. He is one 
child of our Common Father, and he is entitled to a childs share 
in our Common Inheritance — no more. There exists no power 
below God himself who could give him a monopoly of the Soil. 
If there does, name it — let us hear what it is? 

The immortal author of the " Declaration of Indepen- 
dence" has left us his opinon that the present generation is en- 
titled only to the usufruct of the earth, and that they are bound to 
leave it free for the use of ihe generation that is to succeed them 
— the thickheaded Company of Dutch Privateers get up and, 
in effect, say, "behold are we not "the Lords of this soil" and 
shall we not give it, as an eternal heritage to Killian Heer Pauw 
Van Rennsellaer and to his heirs for ever and ever." Those 
who please to in'-ert the laws of Nature and adopt the doctrine 
of the thickheaded Dutch Company, are, of course, at full li- 
berty tu do so — but for my part I cling to the law which is stam- 
ped upon Creation, and. I have more respect for the least sentence 
that ever fell from the pen of Thomas Jefferson than for all the 
dirty greasy tobacco-dyed parchments that ever chronicled the 
wisdom of the big breeched sages of Old Amsterdam. 

But I must conclude. What right do I contend for — what 
regulation do I propose by which that right is to be enforced .? 

1 contend that every man who comes into this world has an 
equal right in the soil. I do not contend for an equal divisiou 
of the soil among the people. I know that such a thing is not 
possible, nor is it even desirable. I am well aware — who is not 
— that while one man embarks in mercantile, and another in ma- 
nufacturing pursuits; while one chooses his home in the city, and 



57 

another his home on the montain wave, equal divisons of land 
are out of the question. But the equal right must ever exist 
in all its force and integrity so long as men come into the world, 
alike naked and equall}' clamorous for food. 

This right is indeed affirmed by the highest legal and judicial 
authorities even of lord-ridden England. But some hold that 
the best way to realize it, is for one lord to stride like a Coliossus 
over a whole territory, whilst the people move to and fro at his 
feet like ants on a mole-hill. Others think that all should 
work into' a common stock and live out of that stock in com- 
mon. Others again say, that men ought to work into one 
heap of production, each individual being paid in exact propor- 
tion to what labor he performs. Now the first of these schemes 
has been tried with a vengeance — and its merits are written in 
blood on every page of the world's history. The second plan 
has been tested — but wont do : the drone lives on the laborer. 

The third plan has not, as yet, been practic&lly tested, 
but I think it contains within it an element of discord that will 
bring about the total disruption of any association that may 
be formed on its principles. I allude to the different prices paid 
for different kinjds of labor. A regulation which will disturb 
that brotherhood of feeling, and equality of privilege and rights 
which are indispensible to the prosperity, and even to the ex- 
istence, of Communities. 

Much has been said, and written upon the great and practi- 
cal advantages to be derived from those co-operative commu- 
nities. But the advocates of those societies seem to overlook 
the fact that the system now established by common consent 
among all nations is in truth one vast system of co-operation. 

Is not the Farmer raising pork and wheat for the Weaver , and 
the weaver in return fabricating coat and pantaloons for the farm- 
er co-operating with each other, as literally as if they domiciled 
under the same root-tree? Let the Measure of Value be uni- 
form and unfluctuating — ^let the farmer sell his produce at the 
price put upon it by an open market. With the proceeds he 
can purchase the proceeds of the weaver's skill ; and not only 
that, but the labor and ingenuity of ten thousand artizans are 
at his feet, soliciting him to take them in exchange, at prices re- 
gulated by public opinion, for the produce of his farm. This 
is indeed co-operation in its most comprehensive sense, and, if 
freed from the Anti-human Influences that are at work upon it, 
it would present a system as much superior to the little hole- 
and-corner communities that have been proposed, as the sun's 
light is superior to the dim-and-drowsy twinklings of a mid- 
night taper. 



58 

capital is the soil and minerals of this whole earth, and all the 
mechanical forces that are in existence, or may be called forth 
by human ingenuity. 

Wiiy has this great co-partnership — instituted by God him- 
self, and extending through all time and over all nations — why, 
I ask, has it ben productive of so htlle advantage to the great 
mass of the human family? The answer is — simply because 
a few directors seized upon the whole capital — made it their own 
individual property — and reduced the mass of the people from 
their natural position of working shareholders, to be mere 
drudges in the establishment. 

Search the entire page of past history and you will find that 
thus it has ever been. Look at the picture of destitution and 
woe which is at this moment presented over Europe, and ''the 
East." Contemplate tha causes that are in active operation 
among ourselves, and see if there is anything in them to save 
us from the universal lot of all past and present nations. No ! 
Society has no escape — posterity has no escape — from servitude 
until some boundary is put to the individual accumulation of 
that capital stock which belongs, and inalienably belongs, to 
the whole human famll)^ We maj^, if we please, adhere to 
the blind predjudices of the barbarous ages — we may in the 
plentitude of our ignorance and infatuation set aside the well 
defined laws of nature, and the no less explicit injunctions of 
God's Word — we may permit individuals to monopolize the 
soil, and shut out starving man from thefruitfulness of Nature 
we may say to the grasping and the rapacious. "Go on ; Clutch 
all ; you have full liberty !" but if we do so we are sure to pay 
the deep, deep, penalty of our unutterable folly. 

I do not propose a disruption of society — I urge.no interfer- 
ence, present or prospective, with the ownership of personal 
property — I desire not to limit individual accumulation of arti- 
ficial wealth produced by man's labor. I fix no bound to the 
possession of houses, or anything created by man'sj hand or 
reared by his industry— I do not'approach, to disturb it, \.\\e pre- 
sent ownership of land — let all existing deeds and titles remain 
in full force, no matter how unjust or unreasonable suoh titles 
may be. What I propose to prohibit, is, all FUTURE Monopo- 
ly of the Soil — to pass a law declaring that no deed executed, 
or transferred, /or the time to come, shall be valid in law if grant- 
ing, or conveying, to any individual more land than is necessary 
for such individual's rational requirements : Say a quantity not 
above the appraised value of ^20,000, and in no case to exceed 
500 acres. 

Let this law be passed — let it become a provision of the|e- 



5d 

deral Constitution— let it be preserved intact as a sacred prin* 
ciple of our Institutions, and in return it -will preserve those 
Institutions from change or decay as long as a respect for free- 
dom lives in the hearts of our descendants, even to the remot- 
est ages of the world 

But, on the other side, if you permit unprincipled and ambi* 
tious men to monopolize the soil, they will become masters of 
the country in the certain order of cause an effect. Holding 
in their hands the Storehouse of food, they will make men's 
physical necessities subdue their love of freedom. They will 
flood the Halls of Legislation sent there by the votes of their 
dependant tenants. Then rapacity and wrong will assume all the 
due forms of "law and order" — then our unhappy descendants 
will be coerced, enslaved, famished to death by Acts of Parlia- 
ment — THEN resistance to the oppression will be stigmatized 
as a "crime" against "lawful authority",— THENour country 
will career down the steeps of 

"Wealth, Vice, Corruption, Barbarism at last.'^ — 

our fate will be the common fate, with this difference, that we 
will run our vessel on the rocks with a full chart of the destruc- 
tion spread out before us — we will madly dash upon the lee shore 
while ten thousand beacon lights flame above, to warn us off 
the danger. 

Reader ! You are a rational and accountable being. You 
are accountable, both to posterity and to your God. Examine 
this question with that serious attentiou which is due to its 
great and far-reaching importance If on a careful examina- 
tion you are satified that there is no danger ahead, then of course 
you are at liberty to "pass over on the other side of the way", 
and offer no help, where, in your opinion, no help is required- — 
But if, on a deliberate examination, you come the conclusion that 
there is danger to our institutions and to our posterity from the 
unbounded accumulation of wealth: Then I call upon y<y\x not 
to lay down this book, and with it dismiss the subject from your 
thoughts If you do so you are not doing your duty — you are 
not acting either a jws; or a manly part towards those countless 
millions whose bondage or freedom, whose weal or woe, is sta- 
ked upon the momentous isse. Meet the necessity like a man. 
Come to the rescue of our institutions while it is yet time. — 
Put a stop to the accumulation of enormous wealth*. Why 
should it be suffered? What good can accrue from it even to 

^ Are not our Churches prohibited from holding more than a limited amount of property? Why 
i a distinction made? Are Churches more corrupt than iddividuals? I deny it. Churches 
cherished and supported the English poor. Individuals turned them out to die. 



LIBRARY OF CONGRESS 



60 



the rich men themselves ? Whether squ ® ®21 371 192 
excess, or hoarded up with the iron-grasp of covotousnes: 
it not ulike subversive of Morality and Religion — alike proda 
tive of guilt and crime ? Look into the simple and harmoni 
ous laws of nature, and see how little man's rational enjoymentii 
are dependant upon vast accumulations of wealth. Search tho 
Scripture, and there see the doom denounced against thos« 
who 'May up for themselves treasures on earth." In pity even to 
those men themselves, limit their field of sordid accumulation. 
But still more prohibit it, in compassion to the countless myriads 
of coming posterity. Look to the example already furnished 
on our own ''free" hills. See how thirty thousand freemen 
must be degraded into serfs, in order to manufacture, and sup- 
port one " Lord of the Soil " ! And, seeing these things, 
will you permit the soil — the source of man's sustenance — to 
become the prey of the monopolist ? No ! Let him take all"^ 
else he pleases ; let him add house to house, let his storerooms^ 
groan \Tith accumulated merchandize — lethimheap all the gold 
and silver he can scrape together with his clutching and pal- 
sied hand — but oh preserve THE SOIL from his pollution. — > 
Let the cultivators of the soil be the Proprietors of the soil. — 
Do this, and whatever corruption may be engendered in cities 
by the baneful influence of Wealth, will be purified and dissipa- 
ted by the unpurchaseable virtue of an independent and rural 
population. 

Reader ! — will you not help us in this work ? An associa- 
tion has been formed in New- York' ibr the purpose of receiving 
any response that may be sent in from the Public Mind. Com- 
municate with us at 99 Reade Street N. Y. Ascertain what 
amount of co-operation can be furnished in your neighborhood. 
It is in contemplation to establish a paper for the advocacy of 
those principles — to employ lecturers, aided by diagrams illus- 
trating the sin of luxury on one side, and the bitter sune^^s 
of extreme poverty on the other — contrasting the horrors of the 
battle-field with the calm serenity of the quiet rural landscape. 
Holding up to view the orgies of a sensual aristocracy, and 
placing in juxta-position the death scaffold, with the executioner 
at work, killing the helpless, unresisting prisoner, whose only 
crime was the highest effort of human virtue — the virtue of 
our own good and Godlike Washington. These, and other means 
are in contemplation by the Society, and Reader once more, 
and for the last time, they invite your assistance and co-opera- 
tion. 



-/ . 



THE END. 



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